OF  THE 

U N I VER^S  ITY 
or  ILLINOIS 


210 

Wi49rf 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/godrevealedinpro00walk_0 


For  the  use  of  the  above  accurate  and  striking  plate,  from  Agassiz  and  Gould’s  Zoology,  the 
author  is  indebted  to  those  distinguished  naturalists. 


SACRED  PHILOSOPHY. 


GOD  REVEALED 

IN  THE 


PROCESS  OE  CREATION, 


AND  BY  THE 

MANIFESTATION  OE  JESUS  CHRIST; 

INCLUDING  AN 

EXAMINATION  OF  THE  DEYELOPMENT  THEORY 

CONTAINED  IN  THE 

"VESTIGES  OE  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OE  CREATION.’' 

B Y 

JAMES  B.  WALKER, 

AUTHOR  OF  “PHILOSOPHY  OP  THE  PLAN  OF  SALVATION.” 


BOSTON: 

OOIJLD  AND  LINCOLN, 

69  WASHINGTON  STREET. 

NEW  YORK;  SHELDON  AND  COMPANY. 
CINCINNATI ; GEO.  S.  BLANCHARD. 

1870. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855,  by 
GOULD  AND  LINCOLN, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Vu 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  ONE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

PRELIMINARY  STATEMENTS 13 

CHAPTER  II. 

INTRODUCTORY — THE  PRESENT  POSITION  AND  BEARINGS  OF  THE  ARGU- 
MEN'I  STATED 19 

CHAPTER  III. 

SUMMARY  OP  THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  “FIRST  THINGS.” 28 

CHAPTER  lY. 

EXPOSITION  OP  THE  FACTS  WHICH  ESTABLISH  THE  DOCTRINE  OP  PRO- 
GRESSIVE ADVANCES  IN  CREATION  FROM  LOWER  TO  HIGHER  SPECIES, 

AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED  BY  THESE  FACTS 38 


Iv 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAGE 

OIT  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATINH  CAUSE,  AND  THE  EVIDENCES  THAT  PHYS- 
ICAL FORCES  AND  LAWS  HAVE  BEEN  USED  AS  INSTRUMENTALITIES 
IN  ACCOMPLISHING  THE  FINAL  END  IN  THE  SCHEME  OF  CREATION  62 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  THE  EVIDENCE  SEEN  IN  THE  PROGRESS  OP  THE 
CREATION,  RELATING  TO  THE  ADAPTATION  OP  THINGS  TO  EACH 
OTHER,  WHICH  ARE  NOT  DEVELOPED  OUT  OF  EACH  OTHER,  NOR 
CONNECTED  WITH  EACH  OTHER  IN  TIME  AND  SPACE 88 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DIFFICULTIES  OP  ANY  THEORY  WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW 
OR  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  ONE  SPECIES  OUT  OP  ANOTHER 96 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


CREATION  AND  CONTROL  BY  DIVINE  AGENCY,  AND  SUSTENTATION  AND 
GOVERNMENT  BY  LAW 113 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TRANSITION  FROM  THE  PHYSICAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL,  CONCERNING  WHAT 
WE  MAY  KNOW  OP  THE  FUTURE  AND  OP  GOD,  PROM  THE  CONSTI- 
TUTION OF  THINGS,  VIEWED  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  LAW  OF 
PROGRESS 120 


CONTENTS 


V 


BOOK  TWO. 

OF  MAN  AND  HIS  EESPONSIBILITIES,  CONSIDEKED  IN 
CONNECTION  WITH  DIVINE  LAW  AND  DIVINE 
KEVELATION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

EXPOSITION  OF  THE  NECESSITY  AND  RULE  OF  LAW 157 

CHAPTER  II. 

CONCERNING-  THE  MORAL  LAW 174 

CHAPTER  III. 

MAN  UNABLE  TO  RECOVER  HIMSELF  FROM  DISOBEDIENCE,  OR  REDEEM 
HIMSELF  FROM  THE  PENALTIES  OP  MORAL  LAW 184 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  LEGAL  ASPECT  AND  PR  ARCTIC  AL  VALUE  OP  T:^  SACRIFICE  OF 
* CHRIST,  AND  ITS  ACCORDANCE  WITH  THE  LAW  OP  PROGRESS  AND 

THE  CHARACTER  OP  GOD 188 

CHAPTER  V., 

THE  MEANS  AND  METHODS  OF  RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE 
DIVINE  LAW 199 


VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PAGE 

THE  ADAPTATIONS  AND  PROCESSES  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  RESTORING  MAN 
TO  IMPARTIAL  REGARD  FOR  HIS  FELLOW-MAN,  THUS  PRODUCING 
OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  SECOND  TABLE  OP  THE  LAW 228 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  MANIFESTATION  OP  GOD  IN  CHRIST  CONSIDERED  IN  ITS  RELA- 
TIONS TO  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 245 

♦ 

ADDENDUM. 

EXCURSUS  ON  HYPOTHESES;  ESPECIALLY  THE  HYPOTHESIS  OF  PRE- 
EXISTENCE  262 


INTRODUCTION. 


All  the  Bridgewater  Treatises  aim  to  develop  the 
central  idea  in  Natural  Theology — that  design,  appa- 
rent in  the  phenomena  of  creation,  indicates  an  intelli- 
gent Designer.  In  the  work  of  Chalmers  some  new 
strength  has  been  added  to  the  argument  for  the  moral 
character  of  the  Supreme  Architect.  These  treatises 
are  able  and  discriminating,  each  marching  through  a 
different  province  of  science  to  the  same  grand  conclu- 
sion. By  a few  these  volumes  will  always  be  appreciat- 
ed but  we  fear  little  has  been  added  by  their  publica- 
tion to  the  popular  religious  conviction  of  Christendom 
beyond  what  had  been  produced  by  the  work  of  Paley. 
And,  indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  work,  predicat- 
ed solely  upon  the  deductions  of  Natural  Theology, 
can  add  much  to  the  strength  of  the  persuasion,  pos- 
sessed in  common  by  all  men,  that  a Supreme  Being 
exists  and  reigns  over  the  universe. 

What  the  world  needs,  is  not  so  much  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  a.  Supreme  Being,  as  evidence  of  the  moral 
character  of  the  Creator — evidence  of  the  moral  aim 


vm 


INTRODUCTION. 


and  end  of  tlie  Divine  Plan — evidence  not  only  tliat 
God  isj’  but  also  that  he  is  a rewarder  of  those  who 
diligently  seek  himP  This  has  been  the  actual  point  of 
conflict  between  the  unbelievers  and  the  faithful  in  all 
the  ages  of  revelation. 

Soon  after  the  Bridgewater  Treatises  were  published, 
the  book  known  as  the  Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Sal- 
vation'^ made  its  appearance  in  America,  and  was  im- 
mediately republished  in  England.  It  intimated  in  its 
preface  the  opinion  of  its  author,  that  the  Bridgewater 
books  did  not  meet  • the  want  of  the  times.  They  did 
not  answer  to  the  great  question  which  the  inquiring 
reason  of  the  civilized  world  propounds.  Men  might 
read  them  all,  and  go  forth  more  skeptical  in  relation  to 
revealed  religion  than  before.  The  very  fact  that  the 
vital  question  had  not  been  discussed  might  indicate  to 
the  philosophic  skeptic  that  it  could  not  be  maintained 
upon  the  basis  of  a sound  philosophy,  nor  by  the  pro- 
cesses of  rational  induction. 

Deeply  sensible,  therefore,  that  the  Bridgewater 
Treatises,  whatever  they  might  be  in  other  respects, 
had  failed  upon  the  main  im,ue,  the  author  of  the 

Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation"  aimed  to  do 
what  they  had  not  done — to  identify  the  God  of  the 
Creation  with  the  God  of  the  Bible,  and  the  flrst  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  with  the  canons  of  human  reason. 
He  aimed  to  show,  by  the  same  process  by  which  the 
conclusions  of  Natural  Theology  are  reached,  that  the 
Mosaic  and  Christian  Dispensations  are  the  work  of  the 
same  Mind  that  planned  and  developed  the  Physical 
Creation.  This  is  the  question  of  the  Christian  Ages 


INTKODUCTION. 


ix 


— ^this  the  demand  made  upon  the  Christian  theists  of 
our  own  time. 

That  the  Author  did  not  misconceive  the  want  of  the 
times,  nor  fail  in  some  measure  to  meet  it,  is  evident 
from  the  fact,  that  his  hook  is  sold  by  thousands  of 
volumes,  while  technical  works  on  Natural  Theology 
(Paley  always  excepted)  live  only  in  professional  libra- 
ries. It  is  studied  in  many  of  the  seminaries  of  Great 
Britain  and  America — ^has  been  translated  into  all  the 
principal  languages  of  the  Continent — is  about  to  be 
translated  into  Hindoostanee,  and  at  the  present  time  is 
extending  its  influence  more  widely  than  ever  before. 

The  success  of  his  first  volume  has  stimulated  the 
Author  to  give  to  the  public  another  volume — a second 
‘‘  Book  for  the  Times'^ — at  a period  when  he  thinks  the 
state  of  the  question  in  Europe  and  America  calls  for 
its  circulation. 

Kecently,  a series  of  essays  have  been  written  for  the 
prize  offered  at  Aberdeen,  which  includes  both  Nature 
and  Eevelation  in  the  same  thesis.  It  is  hoped  that 
they  may  be  books  which  will  live  ; but  previous  ex- 
perience in  connection  with  the  same  prize  awakens  the 
fear  that  they  may  be  able  and  formal  discussions,  like 
their  predecessors,  which  will  fail  to  awaken  an  interest 
in  the  public  mind,  or  to  attract  the  attention  of  in- 
quirers for  truth  ; and  hence  fail  to  promote  by  an  ex- 
tended influence  the  honor  of  Christ  and  the  spiritual 
good  of  men. 

We  have  here,  therefore,  a second  treatise  from  the 
Author  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation 
not  an  introduction  to  the  flrst  book,  nor  a sequel,  but 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


a Companion ; in  whidi  tlie  argument  of  the  previous 
work  is  extended  and  strengthened. , The  Supreme 
Being,  as  revealed  in  Nature  and  Eevelation,  is  ex- 
hibited, not  only  as  the  Author  of  the  physical  and 
moral  systems  of  the  universe  ; hut  a chief  and  further 
aim  of  the  volume  is  to  exhibit  the  Unity  of  the  Di- 
vine Plan,  physical  and  moral,  upon  our  planet,  and  the 
process  through  which  it  has  passed,  and  by  which  it 
is  progressing  to  ultimate  perfection.  In  this  volume 
the  unity  of  the  physical  and  spiritual  scheme  of  the 
Creator,  as  it  has  been  developed  in  our  world,  we  think 
is  established  ; and  the  final  end  of  the  whole  plan  of 
the  mundane  economy  is  shown  to  be  moral  in  its  na- 
ture, and  the  same  as  those  revealed  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures. 

To  the  skeptic,  the  candid  inquirer,  and  the  Chris- 
tian, we  commend  the  book,  hoping  that,  like  its  pre- 
decessor, it  may  interest  and  benefit  many  readers. 


A condensed  statement  of  facts  and  principles 
is  given  in  the  first  chapters  of  the  work.  This  is  done 
in  order  to  the  completeness  of  the  book  in  itself — ^to 
give  the  general  reader  an  apprehension  of  what  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  the  present  state  of  the  discussion,  and  to 
furnish  an  intelligent  introduction  to  the  argument 
which  follows. 


f 


s 


BOOK  ONE. 


I 


“ I EKVT  NO  QUALITY  OF  MIND  OR  INTELLECT  IN  OTHERS,  BE  IT  GENIUS, 
POWER,  WIT,  OR  FANCY ; BUT  IF  I COULD  CHOOSE  WHAT  WOULD  BE  MOST 
DELIGHTFUL,  AND,  I BELIEVE,  MOST  USEFUL  TO  MB,  I SHOULD  PREFER  A 
FIRM  RELIGIOUS  BELIEF  TO  EVERY  OTHER  BLESSING  * FOR  IT  MAKES  LIFE 
A DISCIPLINE  OF  GOODNESS — CREATES  NEW  HOPES  WHEN  ALL  EARTHLY 
HOPES  VANISH — THROWS  OVER  THE  DECAY,  THE  DESTRUCTION  OP  EXIST- 
ENCE, THE  MOST  GORGEOUS  OP  ALL  LIGHTS — ^AWAKENS  LIFE  IN  DEATH — 
AND  FROM  CORRUPTION  AND  DECAY  CALLS  UP  BEAUTY  AND  DIVINITY.” 

SIR  HUMPHRY  DAVY. 


0 


CHAPTER  !• 


PRELIMINAKY  STATEMENT  OF  FIKST  TRUTHS. 

In  an  argument  deduced  from  the  Light  of  Nature 
for  the  Being  of  Grod,  nothing  can  he  properly  assumed 
in  the  outset  except  those  first  truths  which  are  re- 
vealed in  the  human  consciousness.  The  existence  of 
Mind  is  implied  in  the  act  of  thinking,  and  there  are 
certain  laws  of  mind  which  are  implied  in  the  process 
of  reasoning  ; and  however  men  may  differ  about  first 
'knowledge^  or  certain  knowledge  of  things  external  to 
the  mind  itself,  yet  all  agree  that  we  must  doubt  the 
veracity — or  rather,  that  we  must  affirm  the  fallacy — 
of  sensation,  before  we  can  doubt  the  existence  of 
phenomena  external  to  the  mind. 

I AM  : — The  external  world  is  : — In  all  sane 
minds  these  elementary  convictions  exist ; and  they 
are  assumed  in  all  processes  of  the  reason.  It  is  not 
possible  for  a man  to  act  as  though  he  doubted  either 
the  existence  of  self  or  of  the  external  world.  Men 
may  adopt  hypotheses  which  will  lead  them  to  pro- 
pound doubts  upon  this  subject,  but  no  man  can  act 


J.4  PKELIMINARY  STATEMENTS. 

upon  the  supposition  that  such  doubts  are  valid.  We 
can  not  think  without  being  conscious  of  our  existence  ; 
we  can  not  act  without  being  conscious  of  motion  and 
matter  external  to  the  self  of  the  mind.  The  suhjectivt 
and  the  objective — the  me  and  the  not  me — are  cor- 
related and  co-existing  intuitions,  revealed  in  the 
consciousness  of  all  intelligent  active  beings. 

The  mind  is  not  only  conscious  of  the  existence  of 
self,  and  the  existence  of  the  external  world,  but  every 
mind  affirms  of  itself  that  the  external  world — its 
forms  and  movements — are  not  dependent  upon  me. 

By  this  inter-action  of  the  subjective  and  the  objective 
the  idea  or  notion  of  Cause  and  Effect  is  produced.  By 
cause  and  effect,  as  thus  perceived,  we  do  not  merely 
understand  the  succession  of  antecedent  and  sequence  ; 
but  properly,  cause  and  effect : the  effect  being  con- 
nected as  a co?^sequence  with  its  cause. 

That  the  idea  of  cause  and  effect  is  connate  with  the 
exercise  of  the  reason,  is  manifest  from  several  con- 
siderations. It  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  men  have  • 
universally,  and  in  all  ages,  assumed  that  forms  and 
ch^'ugso  in  nature  have  a cause.  Those  who  have 
acr  Ained  that  matter  is  eternal,  have  yet  assumed 
c?  • ' ' tion  as  precedent  to  the  modifications  of  matter. 

ism  in  relation  to  this  elementary  law  of  the 
reasox-.  is  scarcely  possible.  Insanity  often  consists  in 


PRELIMINARY  STATEMENTS. 


15 


assuming  inadequate  or  absurd  causes ; but  this,  of 
itself^  shows  that  a first  and  necessary  element  of  the 
reason  consists  in  assuming  adequate  and  rational 
causes  for  all  perceived  phenomena.  Thus^  whether 
in  a normal  or  an  abnormal  condition^  there  exists  in 
the  human  mind  the  elementary  conviction  of  cause 
and  effect ; and  the  normal  or  sane  condition  of  mind 
is  indicated  by  the  assumption  of  adequate  and  ra- 
tional causes  for  the  various  forms  and  changes  which 
the  creation  exhibits  to  the  senses. 

By  endeavoring  to  form  the  idea  of  an  effect,  or 
change  of  form,  without  a cause,  every  one  may  be  con- 
scious of  the  intuitive  character  of  the  conviction  of 
causation.  We  may  vary  the  notion  of  an  effect,  and 
vary  its  name,  but  we  can  form  no  idea  of  an  effect 
existing  without  an  efficient  antecedent  of  some  sort. 
The  conviction,  then,  that  every  effect  is  related  to  an 
adequate  cause,  is  an  element  of  mind  so  far  that  with- 
out it  there  can  be  no  sane  intellect.  The  correlation 
of  cause  and  effect  is  a primary  truth,  the  assumption 
of  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  processes  of  the  reason. 

THE  INQUIRY  OF  THE  DISCUSSION  STATED. 

These  first  truths  introduce  us  into  the  field  of 
inquiry,  the  exploration  of  which  is  proposed  in  the 


16  PKELIMINARY  STATEMENTS. 

first  part  of  the  following  discussion.  The  process  of 
the  discussion  may  he  such  as  to  allow  the  most  ample 
statement.  Is  the  external  world,  as  known  to  us, 
uncaused  or  self-caused  ? or  is  it  the  effect  of  a 
separate  cause,  adequate  to  the  production  of  the  per- 
ceived phenomena  ? All  the  phases  of  the  main 
inquiry  are  included  in  this — Is  there  a First  Cause, 
adequate  in  power,  intelligence,  and  goodness,  to  whom 
we  must  attribute  the  production  of  the  phenomena  of 
the  universe,  so  far  as  known  to  us  ? 

The  idea  of  God,  as  revealed  by  the  Light  of 
Nature,  can  not  be  less  than  that  of  a cause  ade- 
quate to  the  production  of  all  the  phenomena  known  to 
us.  The  true  idea  of  God  may  signify  more  than  this, 
because  our  knowledge  of  the  universe  is  limited  in 
extent,  and  in  many  cases  our  apprehensions  of  natural 
phenomena  are  inaccurate.  The  more  discriminating, 
therefore,  the  examination  of  the  parts,  relations,  and 
processes  of  created  things,  and  the  more  comprehen- 
sive the  induction  of  natural  phenomena,  the  greater 
will  be  the  probability  of  approximating,  by  correct 
reasonings,  to  a knowledge  of  the  existence  and  char- 
acter of  God. 

The  testimonies,  likewise,  for  the  existence  and 
government  of  the  Supreme  Being,  will  be  strength- 
, ened  in  proportion  as  we  are  able  to  derive  the  same 


PKELIMINARY  STATEMENTS. 


17 


conclusion  from  many  different  premises.  The  eduction 
of  a general  result  from  many  conclusions  logically 
accumulated  is^  perhaps,  the  highest  and  - most  satis- 
factory evidence  that  can  he  presented  to  the  mind  of 
man,  in  relation  to  the  subject  under  consideration. 

Organization  implies  law.^’  This  truth  is  conceded 
as  the  basis  of  all  science.  Whether  it  be  argued  that 
the  law  is  coeval  with  the  organization,  or  produces  or 
governs  the  organization  by  a force  of  nature,  or  by  the 
will  of  Uod — whatever  view  is  taken  of  the  causal 
energy,  still  it  is  conceded  as  a tenet  of  human  knowl- 
edge that  organization  implies  law,  by  which  the  form 
and  changes  of  the  organism  are  governed. 

THE  POINT  OF  BEGINNING. 

Eecent  studies  of  the  physical  history  of  the  earth 
have  established  the  fact,  that  in  the  process  of 
creation,  either  by  the  development  or  introduction 
of  species,  vegetable  and  animal  life  have  advanced 
upon  the  scale  of  creation,  from  lower  to  higher  forms. 
This  fact  points  us  to  the  first  ascertained  step  in 
creative  progress  as  the  point  where  we  should  begin 
our  inquiries.  We  shall  gain  some  advantage  by 
directing  our  train  of  thought  in  accordance  with  the 
course  of  creation,^^  as  it  rises  from  first  to  last 


18 


PRELIMINAKY  STATEMENTS. 


things.  If  the  footsteps  of  the  Creator,  proceeding 
from  the  vast  ohscnre,  become  more  visible  when  life 
dawns  in  organic  forms  upon  the  earth,  then,  by  follow- 
ing those  footprints,  we  shall  certainly  travel  in  the 
direction  in  which  Creative  Energy  and  Wisdom  have 
proceeded ; and  we  trust  we  shall  gather  by  the  way 
satisfactory  evidence  of  the  existence  and  character  of 
the  Creating  Mind. 

We  assume,  then,  subjectively,  the  existence  of 
rnind,  and  of  the  primary  laws  which  govern  the 
reason  ; — objectively,  the  e:ristence  of  matter,  and  of  law 
governing  the  changes  of  material  phenomena.  And 
we  commence  our  inquiries  with  the  facts  which  form 
the  earliest  reliable  knowledge  of  the  earth^s  history. 


CHAPTER  II. 


INTEODUCTOEY. 

THE  PRESENT  POSITION  AND  BEARINGS  OP  THE  ARGUMENT  STATED, 

The  Ancients,  who  assumed  that  creation  from  noth- 
ing was  an  impossibility,  did  not  infer  therefrom  that 
there  were  no  gods.  Many  profound  thinkers  assumed 
that  both  Matter  and  Spirit  had  existed  from  eternity 
Whether,  with  Aristotle,  they  supposed  the  union  of 
spirit  and  matter  a necessity  of  things  ; or  whether 
they  believed,  as  the  Epicureans  taught,  that  there  was 
a Divine  Mind  separate  from  matter ; or  with  Plato, 
that  the  union  of  spirit  with  matter  was  a voluntary 
influx  of  the  Inflnite  One,  pervading  the  forms  and 
producing  the  motions  of  matter ; still,  in  one  view  or 
another,  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the  ancients  was, 
that  both  Mind  and  Matter  were  uncreated  entities. 

The  Moderns  have  held  a different  opinion.  With 
the  exception  of  the  school  of  Spinosa,  and  slight 
modiflcations  of  his  views  by  men  of  more  recent  times, 
philosophers  generally  have  adopted,  and  endeavored  to 


20 


THE  PKESENT  POSITION  AND 


sustain^  tlie  opinion  that  matter  is  a created  substance. 
It  is  believed  that  this  doctrine  is  taught  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  ; and  hence  an  impression  has  prevailed,  that 
skeptical  opinions  are  encouraged  by  hypotheses  ah 
which  do  not  accord  with  that  interpretation  of  Gen- 
esis which  teaches  the  creation  of  matter  out  of  noth- 
ing by  the  omnific  word  of  God. 

In  our  own  times,  the  assumption  that  matter  is  a 
created  substance  is  not  held  to  be  either  so  sacred  or 
so  important  as  it  was  formerly  supposed  to  be.  Some 
modern  authors  have  endeavored  to  show  that  the 
creation  spoken  of  in  Genesis  refers  only  to  the  existing 
order  of  things — the  formation  of  matter  into  the 
various  species  of  organized  life.  Others  find,  in  the 
first  verse  of  Genesis,  an  announcement  of  the  creation 
of  matter  ages  anterior  to  the  formation  of  the  organic 
kingdoms  of  nature.  This  last  opinion  is  at  present, 
probably,  the  prevailing  one,  sustained  by  more  in- 
fluential names  and  by  a better  scriptural  exegesis 
than  any  other. 

THE  QUESTION  WHETHER  MATTER  BE  A CREATED  SUBSTANCE 

NOT  ESSENTIAL. 

On  the  subject  of  the  creation  of  matter.  Dr.  Chal- 
mers is  a good  exponent  of  the  views  of  those  writers 

* Buckland,  Chalmers,  Pye  Smith,  Hitchcock. 


BEARINGS  OF  THE  AEGUMENT  STATED.  21 

wlio  seek  data  both,  in  natural  and  revealed  theology. 
This  able  theologian^  while  he  maintains  that  there  are 
good  reasons  to  support  the  opinion  that  matter  is  a 
created  substance,  yet  denies  that  the  question  is  one 
of  importance  in  the  study  of  natural  theology: — 
^^The  palpable  argument  for  the  being  of  God,  as 
grounded  on  the  phenomena  of  visible  nature,  lies  not 
in  the  existence  of  matter,  but  in  the  arrangements  of 
its  parts — a firmer  stepping-stone  to  the  conclusion 
than  the  mere  entity  of  that  which  is  corporeal  to  the 
previous  entity  of  that  which  is  spiritual.  To  us  it 
marks  far  more  intelligently  the  voice  of  a God,  to 
have  called  forth  the  beauteous  and  beneficent  order  of 
our  world  from  the  womb  of  chaos,  than  to  have  called 
forth  the  substance  of  our  world  from  the  chambers  of 
nonentity.  We  know  that  the  voice  of  God  called 
forth  both,  but  it  is  one  of  those  voices  which  sounds 
so  audibly  and  distinctly  in  reason's  ear.  Of  the  other 
we  have  been  told,  and  we  think  needed  to  have  been 
told,  by  Eevelations."*'*^  He  adds — The  question  te 
be  resolved  then  is,  not  whether  the  matter  of  the  loorld^ 
but  whether  the  present  order  of  the  world  had  a com- 
mencement." 

An  American  writer,  eminent  in  his  own  country. 


* Natural  Theology,  b.  i.  c.  5. 


22 


THE  PKESENT  POSITION  AND 


and  not  unknown  in  Europe/^  says — We  must  con- 
fess at  the  outset,  that  Greology  furnishes  no  more 
evidence  than  the  other  sciences  of  the  creation  of  the 
matter  of  the  universe  out  of  nothing  ; but  it  does  fur- 
nish us  with  examples  of  such  modifications  of  matter 
as  could  be  effected  only  by  a Deity Thus  good 
writers  concur,  that  in  the  scientific  argument  for  the 
being  of  God,  the  question  concerning  the  eternity  of 
matter  may  be  set  aside,  as  not  essential  to  the 
strength  or  validity  of  their  conclusions. 

Yet,  if  this  question  be  held  in  abeyance,  it  is  not 
thereby  conceded  that  matter  is  an  uncreated  sub- 
stance. A position  of  uncertain  value  is  not  contested ; 
but  it  is  never  supposed  that  the  waving  of  the  discus- 
sion on  this  subject  weakens  the  strength  or  affects  the 
foundation  of  the  evidence  that  there  is  a God  who 
created  and  who  governs  the  world.  It  is  only  sup- 
posed that  it  removes  the  basis  of  the  argument  from 
a more  obscure  to  a more  clear  and  firm  position — ^from 
the  region  of  assumption  and  cb  priori  argumentation 
to  the  premises  of  rational  and  d,  posteriori  induction. 

OPINIONS  AND  DISCRIMINATIONS  CONCERNING  THE  LAWS  OP 
MATTER. 

The  question  concerning  the  laws  of  matter  is  more 
complicated  and  difficult  than  that  concerning  the 

* Hitchcock’s  Religion  and  Geology,  p.  162, 


BEARINGS  OF  THE  ARGUMENT  STATED.  23 


creation  of  matter.  This  question  in  some  form  has 
entered  as  an  element  into  the  inquiries  of  all  ages 
concerning  the  being  of  God.  Some  views  of  the 
nature  of  law,  and  of  the  place  which  the  term 
claims  in  the  argument,  are  defined ; but  much  ob- 
scurity rests  on  this  topic  because  of  erroneous  or 
imperfect  definitions.  It  will  be  our  aim  in  the  pro- 
gress of  this  treatise  to  elucidate  this  subject.  Mean- 
while, there  are  some  things  in  the  present  state  of 
opinions  which  it  will  aid  us  to  notice,  as  introductory 
to  future  inquiries. 

In  many  writers  of  the  skeptical  school,  such  phrases 
as  the  ^^laws  of  matter  and  the  nature  of  things 
have  a significance  of  the  highest  import.  In  the  es- 
timation of  such  authors  as  Le  Compte  and  Mirabaud, 
these  phrases  designate  natural  causes  adequate  to  the 
production  of  all  the  visible , phenomena  of  nature. 
Materialists  of  this  class  are  understood  to  deny  the 
existence  of  a personal  God.  This  opinion  some  ex- 
pressly avow.  Others,  however,  who  profess  to  find  in 
nature  an  adequate  cause  for  all  the  forms  and  changes 
which  matter  assumes,  yet  introduce  phraseology  which 
recognizes  a personal  creating  mind  and  it  is  prob- 

* The  whole  revelation  of  the  works  of  God  presented  to  our  senses  is 
a system  based,  from  what  we  are  compelled,  for  want  of  a better  term,  to 
call  law;  by  which,  however,  is  not  meant  a system  independent  of  or  ex- 


24 


THE  PKESENT  POSITION  AND 


ably  but  right  to  suppose  that  this  phraseology  gives 
their  true  convictions^  notwithstanding  their  theories 
and  their  logic  seem  to  maintain  a different  conclusion. 
But,  although  the  naturalistic  writers  differ  among 
themselves  in  regard  to  the  existence  of  a personal 
God,  yet  all  of  them  agree  in  finding  a sufficient  cause 
for  existing  phenomena  in  some  pre-existing  condition 
of  nature,  without  the  intervention  of  any  power  supe- 
rior to  matter  and  its  laws. 

The  indefinite  apprehension  and  use  of  such  phrases 
as  those  referred  to,  has  greatly  retarded  the  progress 
of  true  philosophy.’*'  That  the  laws  of  matter  are  as 
old  as  matter  itself — that  organic  laws  are  as  old  as 
organization,  no  one  doubts.  But  when  organic  laws 
are  spoken  of  as  causing  organization,  and  the  nature 
of  things  as  giving  a nature  to  things,  effects  are  con- 
founded with  causes,  and  the  whole  course  of  the 
reasoning  is  vitiated. 

Professor  Whewell  has  made  some  valuable  discrimi- 
nations between  the  laws  of  matter  and  the  colloca- 
tions of  matter — between  the  laws  and  the  ^^rules^^  or 
adaptations'^  observed  in  the  relations  and  modus 
o^erandi  of  these  laws.  By  the  labors  of  the  Bridge- 

elusive  of  the  Deity,  but  one  which  only  proposes  a certain  mode  of  his 
working. — Sequel  to  Vestiges  of  Creation, 

* Sir  J.  Herschel’s  Address,  1845. 


BEARINGS  OF  THE  ARGUMENT  STATED.  25 


water  writers,  the  argument  has  been  cleared  of  many 
extraneous  and  unnecessary  excurses.  Admitting  that 
law  governs  not  only  the  movements,  but  that  it  is  co- 
eval with  the  constitution  of  things,  the  evidences  of 
a designing  mind  are  found  in  the  manner  in  which 
matter  is  located  in  time  and  space,  and  in  the  adapta- 
tion by  which  things  are  formed  in  combination  with 
the  laws  of  matter  and  the  laws  of  life.  The  exist- 
ence of  God  is  not  argued  so  much  from  the  mere 
existence,  either  of  matter  or  law,  as  from  the  ap- 
parent design  in  adjusting  the  laws  and  forms  of  mat- 
ter, in  such  ways  as  that,  by  the  interworking  of  the 
collocated  economy,  specific  and  valuable  ends  are 
produced. 

The  watchmaker  did  not  give  its  elasticity  to  the 
mainspring,  nor  its  regularity  to  the  balance-wheel, 
nor  its  transparency  to  the  glass,  nor  the  momentum 
of  its  varying  forces  to  the  mechanism  ; yet  the  whole 
is  replete  with  marks  of  intelligence,  announcing 
throughout  the  adjusting  and  forming  skill  of  a 
maker,  who  had  an  eye  on  all  these  properties,  and 
assigned  the  right  place  and  adjustment  to  each  of 
them,  in  fashioning  and  bringing  together  the  parts 
of  an  instrument  for  the  measurement  and  indication 
of  time.  Now  the  same  distinction  can  be  observed  in 

all  the  specimens  of  natural  mechanism.  It  is  true 

2 


26 


THE  PKESENT  POSITION  AND 


that  we  credit  the  author  with  the  creation  and  laws 
of  matter  as  well  as  its  dispositions ; hut  this  does 
not  hinder  its  being  in  the  latter^  and  not  in  the 
former,  where  the  manifestations  of  skill  are  most 
apparent,  or  where  the  chief  argument  for  a Divinity- 
lies/'^' 

The  foregoing  extract  is  a good  condensation  of  the 
opinions  of  modern  writers  on  this  point.  The  agency 
and  wisdom  of  the  Infinite  Architect  are  seen,  not  so 
much  in  the  law  of  refraction,  or  in  the  refiective  sur- 
face of  a lens,  or  in  the  contractile  structure  of  a 
muscle,  nor  in  the  motive  power  of  osseous  lever,  nor 
in  the  form  of  one  or  all  of  these  ; hut  when  the 
lenses  and  laws  are  adjusted  in  definite  relations — 
when  the  contractile  muscle  moves  the  machinery  in 
adaptation  to  external  objects  disconnected  from  the 
machine  itself,  and  all  these  parts,  and  processes,  and 
laws  are  balanced  and  worked  together  as  one  particu- 
lar mechanism,  correlated  to  many  others  in  and  out 
of  the  human  system. — ^from  this  collocation  of  parts, 
and  adjustment  of  laws  to  parts,  are  deduced  the 
agency,  and  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  Divine 
Mind. 

Thus,  while  Theists  hold  that  the  existence  of  God 
may  be  inferred  from  the  existence  of  matter  and  the 

* Chalmer’s  Nat  The.  b.  ii.  c.  1. 


BEAEINGS  OF  THE  AEGUMENT  STATED.  27 


laws  of  matter,  yet  they  take  their  main  position  where 
the  reason  grasps  the  material  with  clearer  apprehen- 
sion, and  where  the  argument  rests  upon  the  basis  of  a 
broader  induction. 


' CHAPTER  III. 

SUMMAEY  OF  THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  FIRST  THINGS. 

« 

Although  the  question  concerning  the  eternity  of 
matter  is  held  in  abeyance  by  able  theologians,  and  tho 
argument  deducible  from  the  existence  of  the  laws  of 
matter  is  not  so  much  insisted  upon  by  others,  yet, 
there  is  a testimony  deducible  from  the  existence  and 
properties  of  first  things  which  indicates  the  personal 
existence  of  God. 

To  the  minds  of  many,  whose  competency  to  judge 
in  the  case  no  one  will  doubt,  there  is  much  weight  in 
the  testimony  for  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God, 
which  is  derived  from  the  ultimate  proportion  and 
properties  of  matter. 

The  researches  of  such  experimenters  as  Lussac  and 
Thompson  have  revealed  facts  formerly  unknown  con- 
cerning the  primary  elements  and  properties  of  things. 
In  order  to  give  the  general  reader  the  basis  of  the  ar- 
gument now  under  review,  we  will  exhibit  a brief 
exposition  of  principles  which  will  be  assented  to  by 
most  or  all  scientific  inquirers. 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  ARGUMENT. 


29 


FORMS  AND  FORCES  OF  ELEMENTARY  ATOMS. 

About  sixty  elementary  bodies  have  been  discovered. 
Each  of  these  is  composed  of  atoms  identical  in  nature 
— almost  infinitely  small;  and  yet  of  definite  size  and 
gravity.  These  elementary  atoms  are  governed  by 
certain  laws  which  regulate  their  motive  forces,  the 
most  prominent  of  which  are  chemical  affinity,  cohe- 
sion, and  polarization.  At  certain  degrees  of  tem- 
perature, most,  if  not  all  the  elementary  substances, 
will  combine  with  others,  and  form  compounds.  We 
rarely  find  in  nature  any  of  the  elementary  principles 
in  a separate  state.  Alone  they  seem  to  be  restless, 
and  to  seek  by  an  innate  affinity,  or  virtus^  equilib- 
rium, or  rest,  in  union  with  atoms  of  other  elementary 
substances.  The  strength  of  affinity  which  holds  the 
elementary  atoms  of  different  substances  in  union  with 
each  other,  is  stronger  in  some  cases  than  others.  The 
attraction  between  oxygen  and  potassium  is  so  strong 
that  if  a portion  of  potassium  be  thrown  into  a portion 
of  water  combustion  is  produced  : the  oxygen  of  the 
water  separates  from  the  hydrogen,  unites  with  the 
potassium,  and  leaves  the  hydrogen  free. 

The  union  of  elementary  substances  takes  place  ac- 
cording to  a law  of  definite  proportions — ^proportions 
definite  both  in  volume  and  weight. 


30 


SUMMAKY  OF  THE  ARGUMENT 


The  bodies  which  are  formed  by  the  union  of  ele- 
mentary atoms  with  each  other  are  called  binary  or 
primary  compounds.  One  binary  compound  often 
unites  with  others ; thus  forming  complex  or  ternary 
compounds  ; as  when  an  acid  which  is  composed  of 
two  elementary  substances  unites  with  an  alkaline 
base^  which  is  a binary  compound  of  another  character. 

In  the  formation  of  these  chemical  compounds  the 
elementary  molecules^  as  we  have  noticed,  unite  with 
each  other  in  definite  proportions.  If  the  chemist 
experiments  with  1000  parts,  by  weight,  of  the  chlo- 
ride of  sodium  (common  salt),  he  will  obtain  600  parts 
of  chlorine,  a greenish  vapor,  and  400  parts  of  sodium, 
a white  shining  solid.  This  would  be  the  invariable 
product  of  the  analysis. 

In  common  chalk — the  carbonate  of  lime  (or  more 
accurately,  the  carbonate  of  the  oxyd  of  lime) — the 
chemist  has  a ternary  or  complex  compound.  Two 
binary  compounds,  carbonic  acid  and  the  oxyd  of  cal- 
cium, unite  in  its  formation.  1000  parts  of  chalk  will 
yield  in  the  first  analysis  440  parts  of  carbonic  acid  and 
560  parts  of  lime.  The  complex  compound  is  now 
separated  into  two  primary  compounds — carbonic  acid 
and  lime.  The  chemist  pursues  the  analysis,  and  ob- 
tains the  elementary  substances  in  each  of  these,  in  the 
nroportion  of  320  parts  of  oxygen  and  120  parts  of 


FROM  FIRST  THINGS. 


31 


carbon,  in  tbe  carbonic  acid — a proportion  of  8 to  8. 
From  the  lime  he  obtains  160  parts  of  oxygen  and  400 
parts  of  calcium — a proportion  of  2 to  6. 

If,  now,  the  experimenter,  having  obtained  the  ele- 
mentary substances,  desires  to  compound  them  again, 
he  can  do  it  only  in  definite  weights.  Thus  analytic 
and  synthetic  processes  demonstrate  the  principle  of 
definite  proportion  in  the  primary  atoms  of  matter. 

As  in  gravity,  so  in  volume  ; the  elementary  sub- 
stances unite  in  definite  proportions.  To  form  water, 
half  the  bulk  and  eight  times  the  weight  of  oxygen 
unite  with  twice  the  bulk  and  eight  times  the  weight 
of  hydrogen. 

One  substance  will  often  take  two  or  more  propor- 
tions of  some  other  into  union  with  itself,  one  quantity 
being  a serial  or  multiple  proportion  of  the  other.  The 
gases,  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  unite  in  the  following 
several  proportions  : 14  of  oxygen  to  8 of  hydrogen ; 
14 — 24  ; 14 — 32  ; 14 — 40.  Fourteen  parts  of  nitrogen 
will  receive  from  one  to  five  times  the  definite  propor- 
tion of  eight  of  oxygen. 

These  elementary  atoms  of  about  sixty  different  sub- 
stances, united  in  different  proportions,  form  the  visible 
phenomena  of  the  globe.  By  homogeneous  attraction 
elementary  masses  are  formed — ^by  elective  attraction 
compound  bodies  are  formed ; the  latter  affinity  regu- 


SUMMAKY  OF  THE  AKGUMENT 


lated  by  the  principle  of  proportion,  as  exhibited  by 
the  foregoing  facts. 

Sir  John  Herschel,  before  the  Eoyal  Society  in  1845, 
in  noticing  these  facts,  said — These  discoveries  effect- 
ually destroy  the  idea  of  an  external  self-existent  mat- 
ter, by  giving  to  each  of  its  atoms  at  once  the  essential 
characteristics  of  a manufactured  article  and  a subor- 
dinate agent."^  When  we  see,^^  says  he,  a great 
number  of  things  precisely  alike,  we  do  not  believe 
this  similarity  to  have  originated  except  from  a com- 
mon principle  independent  of  them.^'  These  remarks 
indicate  the  character  of  the  argument,  and  the  con- 
clusion fairly  deducible  from  the  nature  and  properties 
of  first  things. 

ADDITIONAL  INFERENCES  DEDUCIBLE  FROM  THE  SAME  FACTS. 

. There  are  other  considerations  in  addition  to  those 
spoken  of  by  Sir  John,  which  render  the  argument 
derived  from  the  forms  and  properties  of  primitive 
atoms  almost  as  satisfactory,  to  some  minds,  as  that 
predicated  upon  evidences  of  design  in  the  structure 
of  animated  beings  ; and,  being  the  last  step  in  the 
ascending  scale  from  effect  to  cause,  the  argument  is 
the  more  conclusive.  If  there  be  marks  of  design  in 
the  form  and  qualities  of  first  things,  there  is  no  in- 


FKOM  FIRST  THINGS. 


33 


tervening  second  cause  between  them  and  the  Creator. 
From  this  last  step  in  the  d posteriori  argument  we 
ascend  directly  to  the  Creating  Mind.  With  the  pri- 
mary properties  of  matter  second  causes  cease,  and  the 
forms  and  forces  of  first  things  stand  connected,  by  a 
logical  necessity,  immediately  with  the  First  Cause. 

We  will  notice  other  marks  of  design  besides  those 
referred  to  above,  which  may  be  gathered  from  the 
primitive  constitution  of  things. 

Instead  of  a single  elementary  principle,  about  sixty, 
more  or  less,  are  known  to  exist. These  being  diverse 
in  their  nature  from  each  other — one  not  being  produced 
from  the  other ^ and  yet  all  hearing  the  evidence  of  relor- 
tion  to  one  another — this  diversity  of  properties  and 
unity  of  relations  brings  in  each  additional  element, 
after  the  first,  as  an  additional  evidence  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a Designing  Creator.  Had  there  been  but  one, 
or  even  two  or  three  elementary  substances,  the  organ- 
ized kingdoms  of  nature  could  not  have  existed.  Every 
additional  element  therefore  which  aids  to  constitute 
the  variety,  and  which  is  necessary  to  constitute  thu 
forms  of  life,  is  an  evidence  of  a Designing  Intelli- 

* The  question  concerning  further  divisibility  of  some  substances  now 
supposed  to  be  elementary  does  not  affect  the  argument.  Should  the  sup- 
position prove  true,  it  would  increase  rather  than  diminish  its  force.  It 
would  increase  the  plurality  in  the  premises,  and  thereby  strengthen  the 
calculation  against  the  doctrine  of  chance. 

"2^ 


34 


SUMMAKY  OF  THE  AEGUMENT 


gence,  exercised  in  view  of  tlie  future  organic  orders  of 
nature^  ages  before  they  were  called  into  existence. 

The  fluidity  of  some  elementary  substances^  and  the 
solid  and  gaseous  character  of  others^  in  their  natural 
state,  show  another  adaptation  in  the  form  of  flrst 
things.  If  the  elements  were  all  solids  or  all  fluids,  no 
organized  being  could  exist.  We  know  it  is  sometimes 
said,  in  answer  to  such  statements  as  this,  that  organ- 
ized beings  might  exist  in  such  conditions,  only  they 
would  be  differently  constituted  from  present  species, 
and  adapted  to  the  condition  of  universal  fluidity  or 
solidity.  But  there  are  necessities  even  in  the  nature 
of  things.  There  could  have  been  no  body  without 
solidity,  and  no  motion  of  bodies  without  fluid  or  gas- 
eous elements.  The  supposition,  therefore,  is  absurd  ; 
and  the  evidence  of  design  seen  in  the  solid,  fluid,  and 
gaseous  constitution  of  elementary  substances,  stands 
unfmpeached. 

These  testimonies  are  cumulative.  When  we  add  to 
^his  diversity  in  the  natural  state  of  the  elements  their 
capacity  to  change  from  solids  to  fluids,  and  vice  versd^ 
the  evidence  of  design,  seen  in  the  relation  of  one  of 
tliese  characteristics  to  the  other,  and  of  all  to  the  va- 
ried phenomena  of  nature,  is  strengthened  many  fold. 

Again  : There  are,  as  we  have  noticed,  two  species 
of  attraction ; the  one  uniting  homogeneous  atoms — 


FKOM  FIRST  THINGS. 


35 


tlie  otter  forming  compounds  of  diverse  substances 
into  one  mass.  Now,  bad  but  one  attractive  force 
characterized  matter,  the  earth  would  have  continued 
forever  without  form,  and  void.  With  but  one  at- 
tractive force,  homogeneous  masses  would  have  been 
formed  : but  these  masses  would  have  existed  in  an 
isolated  state  ; and  in  this  condition,  if  there  were 
movement  of  the  elementary  masses,  it  would  have 
occasioned  the  eternal  collision  and  repellence  of  iso- 
lated substances.  But  by  an  additional  attraction, 
which  unites  the  essential  elements  of  matter  with 
each  other,  in  bodies  whose  compounds  are  almost 
infinitely  varied,  place,  and  form,  and  beauty  are  given 
to  the  animate  and  inanimate  phenomena  of  the 
creation. 

Again : The  proportionate  volume  and  gravity  of 
elementary  molecules  furnishes  another  evidence  of 
design  in  the  beginning  of  the  creation.  Suppose  there 
had  been  no  fixed  proportion  regulating  the  union  of 
oxygen  and  nitrogen,  but  that  they  would  mix  with 
each  other  in  any  and  in  all  proportions ; then  there 
could  have  been  no  adjustment  of  the  lungs  of  ani- 
mated beings  to  the  atmosphere.  Proportion  in  the 
one  was  necessary,  in  order  that  there  could  be  adapt- 
ation and  adjustment  in  the  other.  So  of  other 
compounds  which  affect  other  parts  and  processes  of 


36 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  ARGUMENT 


the  animal  economy.  If  there  had  been  no  definite 
proportions,  in  which  alone  the  elementary  substances 
would  compound  themselves,  there  could  have  been  no 
adjustment  of  the  organs  of  motion  and  life  to  the  con- 
ditions of  nature. 

THESE  SEVERAL  CONSIDERATIONS  ACCUMULATE  A STRONG 
TESTIMONY. 

Now,  when  all  these  particulars  are  contemplated  in 
their  relations  to  each  other,  the  conclusion  seems 
almost  irresistible,  that  the  physical  creation  at  its 
birth  was  endowed  with  proportions,  and  properties, 
and  laws,  which  implied,  as  a sequence,  the  organic 
creation,  yet  many  ages  in  the  future.  A creation  of 
first  things  with  such  a constitution  contains  evidence 
in  itself  (as  we  think)  of  the  creation  of  matter,  and 
most  certainly  of  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God  in 
giving  form,  property,  and  law  to  the  material  universe. 

If  it  were  granted  to  those  who  hold  the  Lamarkean 
hypothesis,  that  all  the  forms  and  forces  of  the  organic 
creation,  existing  at  present,  originated  in  preceding 
properties  of  things,  and  in  the  conditions  by  which 
these  properties  are  brought  into  play,  this  would  only 
make  the  question  more  peculiarly  pressing  and  per- 
tinent— Whence  the  properties,  and  laws,  and  con- 


FROM  FIRST  THINGS. 


37 


ditions  of  first  things  ? If  there  is  perspicuous  evidence 
of  design  in  the  proportions  of  pristine  atoms  ; and  if, 
by  the  force  and  form  of  these,  matter  has  been  de- 
veloped into  the  order  and  beauty  of  the  present  crea- 
tion ; then  the  design  in  the  constitution  of  the  primary 
constituents  of  things,  which  contemplated  all  future 
phenomena,  is  only  the  more  apparent  and  the  more 
wonderful. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS  WHICH  ESTABLISH  THE  DOCTRINE  OF 
PROGRESSIVE  ADVANCES  IN  CREATION  FROM  LOWER  TO  HIGHER 
SPECIES,  AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED  BY  THESE  FACTS. 

It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  elaborate  tbe  evidence 
of  progressive  steps  in  the  exercise  of  creative  energy 
upon  the  earth  ; those  evidences  have  long  since  been 
industriously  collated.  There  is,  probably,  no  one  at 
the  present  time  conversant  with  geological  studies, 
who  doubts  that  creative  energy  upon  our  globe  has 
proceeded  upon  the  principle  of  progress. 

Exceptions  to  the  principle  of  consecutive  progress 
have  been  alleged  at  some  points  in  the  chain  of  or- 
ganic life ; and  it  is  true  that,  as  the  four  great  orders 
of  animated  beings  pass  from  the  first  individuals  up- 
ward, there  are  links  where  the  chain  is  broken— but, 
in  view  of  the  varied  and  cumulative  evidence  which 
sustains  the  general  principle,  the  exceptions,  we  think, 
ought  not  to  raise  a doubt  in  any  mind  in  relation  to 
successive  advances  in  the  great  scheme  of  creation. 


EXPOSITION  OF  •THE  FACTS.  39 

We  do  not  speak  now  in  relation  to  the  Lamarkean 
hypothesis^  or  in  relation  to  any  hypothesis  which  as- 
sumes the  development  of  one  species  into  another  by 
the  force  of  nature.^"  Such  hypotheses^  if  they  as- 
sume that  one  life-property  produces  another,  new  and 
diverse  from  itself,  are  merely  attempts  to  clothe  nat- 
ural principles  with  divine  attributes : but  still,  the 
statements  upon  which  such  hypotheses  are  based,  so 
far  as  they  are  authentic,  ought  not  to  be  undervalued. 
Nothing  is  gained  for  the  cause  of  Truth  by  impeach- 
ing a well-supported  statement,  because  it  secerns  to 
invalidate  a conclusion  which  we  desire  to  establish. 
There  are,  undoubtedly,  facts  sufficient  to  prove  pro- 
gress from  lower  to  higher  forms  and  faculties  in  the 
work  of  creation.  There  are  no  exceptions  which  invali- 
date the  general  statement  that  the  earth^s  surface  has 
been  inhabited  by  different  species  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals, the  most  of  which  ceased  to  exist  many  ages 
before  the  creation  of  man;  and  that  in  the  orders 
of  creation  each  successive  genus  is  with  few,  if  any 
exceptions,  higher  in  organization  than  preceding  ones, 

IHERE  ARE  NO  EXCEPTIONS  WHICH  INVALIDATE  THE  FACT 
or  PROGRESS. 

The  exception  often  referred  to  by  able  writers,  that 
fishes  of  a complex  structure  are  found  in  the  Silurian 


40 


EXPOSITIOir  OP  THE  FACTS 


group,  may  be  alleged  against  the  development  by- 
potbesis,  to  counteract  wbicb,  more  particularly,  it  is 
adduced  ; but,  aside  from  all  theories,  and  inquiring  as 
to  tbe  fact  wbetber  bigber  forms  of  animated  life  did 
not  progressively  succeed  tbe  earlier  species,  aU  parties 
would  answer  tbe  inquiry  thus  propounded  in  tbe  af- 
firmative. 

It  is  likewise  true  that,  in  tbe  progress  of  ages,  some 
species  of  vegetables  and  animals  bave  degenerated. 
When  tbe  conditions  of  tbe  earth’s  surface  bave 
changed,  and  certain  species  bave  continued  to  exist, 
it  is  found  that  their  size  usually  diminishes,  their 
number  decreases,  and  their  dominion  upon  tbe  earth’s 
surface  passes  away.  But  this  obviously  has  been  tbe 
result  of  changes  in  tbe  condition  of  tbe  globe,  wbicb 
were  more  favorable  to  tbe  bigber  species,  and  conse- 
quently less  favorable  to  those  below  them ; thus  tbe 
bigber  temperature  and  humid  atmosphere  of  tbe  sec- 
ondary period  were  succeeded  by  a state  of  tbe  earth’s 
surface  more  favorable  to  tbe  conformation  and  in- 
stincts of  other  creatures,  advanced  beyond  saurians  on 
tbe  scale  of  animated  bfe.  Hence  the  deterioration  of 
lower  species  would  be  tbe  legitimate  result  of  tbe  in- 
troduction of  conditions  suitable  to  advanced  forms. 
Tbe  very  fact  of  degeneracy  in  lower  species  as  tbe 


AND  THE  INFEKENCES  AUTHOKIZED.  41 

higher  came  on^  is,  in  itself,  no  slight  testimony  to  the 
rule  of  progress  in  the  process  of  creation.  ^ 

The  fact,  too,  that  mollusks  of  a complex  structure, 
and  some  cartilaginous  fishes,  existed  in  the  early  seas, 
is  only  another  testimony  to  the  well-ascertained  prin- 
ciple that  creatures  were  from  the  first  adapted  to»the 
conditions  of  the  earth's  surface.  The  condition  of  the 
primitive  seas,  except  perhaps  in  the  matters  of  higher 
temperature  and  greater  expansion,  did  not  differ  great- 
ly from  that  of  the  seas  in  all  ages  ; hence,  as  marine 
conditions  have  remained  in  many  important  respects 
nearly  the  same  from  the  first,  we  would  expect  to  find, 
as  we  do  find,  that  some  species  and  genera  of  marine 
life  have  had  a wider  range  and  a more  prolonged  ex- 
istence than  the  denizens  of  the  land. 

The  diagram  at  the  beginning  of  the  volume  will 
give  a condensed  illustration  of  the  main  facts,  and  set 
the  order  of  progress  in  creation  clearly  before  the  mind 
of  the  reader. 

The  upward  progress  of  creation,  as  illustrated  by 
the  diagram,  is  sufficiently  conspicuous.  We  will 
sketch  an  outline  to  give  definiteness  to  the  im- 
pression, and  in  order  that  the  reader  may  have  in 
mind  a distinct  apprehension  of  the  facts  from  which 


we  reason. 


42 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 


a KETCH  OP  THE  PHYSICAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  EARTH. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  mass  of  the 
foundation  granite  is  condensed  from  a state  of  igneous 
fusion.  The  metamorphic  rocks,  which  lie  next  above, 
are  composed  of  masses  of  primitive  rock,  broken  and 
comminuted  into  slates,  which  compose  the  schistose 
and  sienitic  groups.  These  rocks,  laid  down  in  the 
primitive  seas  upon  the  hot  granitic  floor  of  the  uni- 
versal ocean,  bear  evidence,  in  many  regions,  of  being  • 
permeated,  and,  in  some  instances,  changed  in  struct- 
ure by  the  heat  radiated  from  the  subjacent  rocks. 
The  whole  system  of  granites,  slates,  and  conglom- 
erates, are  generally  classed  as  primitive  rocks.  This 
primitive  formation  is-  called  non-fossiliferous,  because 
no  traces  of  life  are  found  in  it.  It  is  a fair,  although 
not  an  unquestioned  deduction,  derived  from  the  ab- 
solute evidences  of  the  igneous  condition  of  things  . 
during  the  primitive  period,  that  organization  was  not 
possible  in  the  condition  of  the  globe  at  that  age  of 
time. 

The  hypothesis  is  popular  that  the  earth  is  a mass 
of  molten  matter  covered  by  an  oxydized  ci  ust — that 
the  strata  of  sedimentary  rock  lie  upon  the  primitive 
as  the  coats  of  an  onion,  except  that  the  one  is  con- 
tinuous, while  the  rock-rinds  are  laid  in  patches  of 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  48 


greater  or  less  extent  upon  tlie  foundation  granite, 
which  itself  is  contiguous  to  the  molten  matter  below. 

In  the  earliest  period,  when  life  did  not  exist,  and 
when  only  the  metamorphic  or  lowest  sedimentary 
rocks  had  been  deposited,  the  crust  of  the  earth  was 
brokeru  and  agitated  by  frequent  convulsions.  The 
foundation  rock  was  not  yet  sufficiently  thick  and 
strong  to  bear  up  high  mountain  elevations  ; but  the 
cracks  produced  were  filled  with  basaltic  and  other 
material  in  an  igneous  state,  which  often  in  the  earli- 
est, and  sometimes  at  later  periods,  overfiowed  and 
solidified  upon  the  surface.  Thus,  by  ejections  of 
fluid  matter  from  below  which  condensed  above,  and 
by  depositions  from  the  ocean  which  then  covered  the 
entire  surface  of  the  earth,  the  foundation  formation 
was  consolidated,  upon  which  was  to  be  erected  the 
sublime  superstructures  of  the  organic  kingdoms  of 
creation. 

THE  GRAYWACKE  OR  PALEOZOIC  FORMATION. FIRST  LIFIS 

PERIOD. 

When  the  first  belt  of  fossiliferous  rocks  was  laid 
down  upon  the  sienites  and  conglomerates  of  the  upper 
primitive,  the  seas  covered  almost  the  whole  area  of 
the  earth^s  surface.  There  were,  probably,  some  peaks 


44 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 


of  granite  rising  above  the  universal  ocean.  From  this 
universal  ocean,  which  washed  and  wore  the  rock-bed 
upon  which  it  lay,  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian  groups 
were  deposited.  The  lower  portion  of  this  group  are 
called  the  primary  fossiliferous  strata,  because,  while 
they  were  being  formed  at  the  bottom  of  the^  ocean, 
life  first  began  in  the  waters.  During  this  first  life- 
period  no  air-breathing  animals  existed.  Life  was 
confined  to  the  seas.  If  vegetation  existed  in  the 
seas,  of  which  there  are  some  indications,  it  was  in 
the  low  form  of  fucoids : if  it  existed  out  of  the  seas, 
it  was  only  as  rock-rust  upon  exposed  surfaces.  During 
this  period  the  four  great  orders  of  animated  life  in  the 
ocean  began,  nearly  together  in  the  order  of  time  ; but 
the  evidence  is  almost  conclusive  that  radiata,  articu- 
lata,  and  mollusca,  preceded  the  vertebrata.  Whether 
the  four  orders  of  Cuvier  began  simultaneously  or  not, 
is  not  a point  of  importance  ; other  criteria  besides  the 
divisions  of  naturalists  are  necessary  to  determine  the 
advance  of  a creature  upon  the  scale  of  life.  Even  if 
the  first  cartilaginous  fishes,  or  plataceans,  were  proper 
vertebrates,  yet  no  one  supposes  that  they  were  as  high 
upon  the  scale  of  life  as  the  lowest  air-breathing  rep- 
tiles, which  followed  the  order  of  time  and  the  order  of 
progress. 

Professor  Ansted  has  given  one  of  the  most  recent 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  45 


and  accurate  panoramic  views  of  the  different  periods  of 
creative  energy.  Of  this  first  period  he  says  ; — The 
animals  we  do  find  consist  of  certain  sea-weeds,  called 
graptolites — the  habitation,  probably,  of  compound 
creatures,  which  seem  scarcely  to  deserve  the  name  of 
animals  ; of  other  polyps  of  somewhat  higher  organi- 
zation, building  those  lasting  and  singular  monuments, 
the  coral  reefs  ; of  animals  removed  yet  another  step 
in  advance,  and  called  crinoids  ; and  of  a singular  and 
extensive  group  of  crustacean  animals,  known  by  the 
name  of  trilobites.  This  series  of  rock  also  include  a 
considerable  group  of  bivalve  shells,  belonging  to  ani- 
mals of  low  organization,  and  allied  to  the  terebratula  ; 
a few  other  shells,  both  bivalve  and  univalve  ; and  last 
of  all,  a number  of  the  many-chambered  shells  of  a 
carnivorous  animal  like  the  cuttle-fish,  a creature  of 
high  and  complicated  organization  among  the  inverte- 
brata,  and  which  seems  to  have  been  introduced  among 
the  earliest  species  intended  to  people  the  primeval 
seas.  In  the  older  beds,  at  least  until  the  termination 
of  the  first  great  epoch — the  Silurian — there  seem,  in- 
deed, only  to  have  been  introduced  successive  modifi- 
cations and  additional  species  of  the  invertebrated 
type  ; and  not  till  [near  its  close  did  the  fishes  ap- 
pear, as  if  preparing  the  way  for  the  next  period 


46 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS 


marked  by  tbe  prevalence  of  more  highly  organized 
beings/^ 

Perfect  in  themselves^  and  teeming  abundantly  in 
the  ancient  seas,  life  is  first  manifested  in  polyps, 
stone-lilies,  valve  and  chambered  shells  ; and  with 
these,  although  not  among  the  earliest  species,  carti- 
laginous, vertebrate  creatures,  now  classed  by  natu- 
ralists with  placoid  and  ganoid  fishes.f  Such  was 
animated  nature  during  the  first  life-period.  While 
we  have  not  evidence  for  the  statement  that  the  crea- 
tures of  this  formation  were  successive  advances  from 
the  lowest  link  of  life,  yet  all  agree  that  they  formed 
the  lowest  links  of  the  four  great  chains  of  animated 
nature. 

^ Ansted’s  Ancient  World,  c.  3. 

f The  classification  of  the  ganoid  fishes  with  the  vertebrates  has  led 
some  to  write  as  if  this  fact  mihtated  against  the  absolute  evidence  of  up- 
ward progress  upon  the  scale  of  life.  If  no  order  of  living  beings  had 
ever  existed  but  the  vertebrata,  the  evidence  of  a rising  scale  in  creation 
would  be  almost  as  absolute  as  it  is  now.  The  progress  from  a cartilagi- 
nous, oviparous,  marine  creature,  of  the  lowest  species  of  vertebrata,  to  an 
air-breathing  mammal  of  the  highest  species,  surely  ought  to  satisfy  those 
who  make  most  of  the  classifications  of  the  naturalist.  Even  if  the  ver- 
tebra be  considered  the  basis  upon  which  the  organization  of  the  order  is 
predicated,  and  if  Professor  Owen’s  doctrine  of  limbs  be  received,  yet  the 
new  appendages,  new  adaptations,  new  and  diverse  physiological  struct- 
ures, mark  a progress  between  the  first  and  last  vertebrate,  as  distinct  as 
the  difference  between  the  articulate  and  the  first  vertebrate.  But  it  is 
not  the  method  of  progress^  but  the  fact  of  progress  in  forms  and  life-forces 
(as  we  notice  in  the  text  further  on),  from  which  we  deduce  evidence  of 
the  being  and  attributes  of  God. 


AND  THE  INFEBENCES  AUTHORIZED.  47 


THE  CARBONIFEROUS  FORMATION. SECOND  LIFE  PERIOD. 

The  formation  which  succeeds  the  Silurian  groups 
has  been  called  the  Carboniferous  System  ; a name  sig- 
nificant of  the  immense  amount  of  carbonaceous  ma- 
terial which  composes  its  medial  and  upper  portions. 
The  mountain  limestone  and  the  great  coal-beds  are 
chief  members  of  this  series  of  strata.  At  the  beginning 
of  this  formation,  many  species  of  things  found  in  the 
Silurian  and  Devonian  rocks  perished,  and  are  found  no 
more  upon  the  globe.  The  old  red  sandstone,  com- 
posed of  conglomerates  and  finer  silicious  material, 
mostly  of  a dark  red  color,  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the 
carboniferous  deposits ; or  rather,  at  the  transition  be- 
tween the  Devonian  and  carboniferous  rocks.  At  this 
point  of  transition  between  the  graywackes  and  the 
carboniferous  the  crust  of  the  earth  was  convulsed,  and 
the  seas  agitated  and  turbulent.  The  conditions  of  the 
surface  were  greatly  changed.  After  the  deposition  of 
the  sandstone,  which  immediately  ensued  upon  the 
breaking  up  of  the  old  conditions,  there  was  again  com- 
parative repose.  The  waters  were  impregnated  with 
calcareous  material,  and  the  ocean  again  swarmed  with 
moUusks  and  lime-coated  creatures  of  various  genera. 
They  were  so  numerous  that  their  exuvia,  imbedded  in 


48 


EXPOSITION  OP  THE  FACTS, 


calcareous  sediment  at  the  sea  bottoms,  and  since  ele- 
vated into  dry  land,  form  a large  portion  of  the  lime- 
stone now  underlying  some  of  the  finest  soils  upon  the 
globe. 

Higher  up  in  the  carboniferous  strata  are  located  the 
vast  coal-beds,  found  in  almost  every  temperate  region 
of  .ihe  globe.  The  dry  land  existing  at  this  period 
probably  presented  large  areas  of  level  or  slightly  un- 
dulating territory,  not  greatly  elevated  above  the  seas. 
The  highest  mountain  chains  had  not  yet  been  ele- 
vated. The  alternations  of  fresh  and  salt  water  in 
estuaries  and  shallow  basins  indicate  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  surface.  Upon  the  new  calcareous  soils, 
possessing,  no  doubt,  as  a component,  much  animal 
matter,  grew  the  dense  vegetation  which  forms  the 
mass  of  the  coal  measures.  Few  vegetable  species  of 
all  that  composed  the  immense  mass  of  bituminous 
coal  now  exist ; and  those  few  which  remain,  if  they  be 
really  identical,  are  so  diminished  and  varied  that  the 
discriminations  of  the  naturalist  alone  can  identify 
them.  The  vegetation  at  this  period  was  luxurious 
and  gigantic.  Plants  belonging  to  the  flag  and  fern 
species  grew  to  the  altitude  and  diameter  of  trees.  It 
was  an  age  of  weed-trees,  with  innumerable  plants  of 
the  cactus  genus  as  an  undergrowth,  and  with  softer 
coniferee  and  palms  interspersed. 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  49 

This  vegetation  was  probably  swept  from  the  surface 
into  the  declivities  and  inland  lakes  ; and,  by  a process 
similar  to  that  still  going  on  in  some  peat-bogs,  it  ac- 
cumulated by  aggregation  and  reproduction  into  mass- 
es, of  the  extent  of  which  we  can  form  no  adequate 
• conception.  During  this  period,  upheavals  of  portions 
of  the  earth's  crust  frequently  occurred.  The  ocean 
wave,  occasioned  by  the  upheaval  of  lands  from  below^ 
having  swept  the  vegetation  from  the  acclivities  into 
the  basins,  would  subside,  and  leave  the  accumulated 
vegetation  covered  with  a coating  of  sediment ; upon 
which,  again,  another  growth  of  dense  vegetation 
might  be  produced. 

The  theories  of  geologists  respecting  the  formation 
of  the  coal-basins  are  various ; some  even  doubt 
whether  the  bases  of  coal  be  of  vegetable  origin. For 
the  purposes  of  our  argument,  it  is  enough  that  these 
immense  beds  of  fossil  fuel  were  accumulated  and 
preserved  in  the  crust  of  the  earth  hundreds  of  ages 
before  man  was  created. 

During  the  carboniferous  period  traces  of  insects  and 
of  land  animals  began  to  appear.  Fresh-water  shells 

* Essays  on  Geological  Subjects,  by  Colonel  Charles  Whittlesey.  Those 
who  have  observed  various  substances  through  a microscope,  will  prob- 
ably admit  that  this  instrument  is  not  so  much  to  be  relied  on  in  settling 
questions  of  this  character. 


S 


50 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 


were  few  and  small.  Little  more  is  known  than  wkat 
is  necessary  to  indicate  that  life,  before  confined  to  the 
ocean,  had  now  dawned  in  the  fresh  waters  and  upon 
the  uplands  of  the  earth.  New  species  of  radiates 
were  introduced,  and  a few  new  moUusks  ; the  lat- 
ter species,  especip^lly  of  encrinites,  being  higher 
in  organization  than  previous  ones.  Sauroid  fishes, 
and  some  creatures  approaching,  if  they  were  not  per- 
fect reptiles,  exhibit  themselves.  Fishes  belonging  to 
genera  of  the  previous  period  still  exist,  and  some  new 
ichthyic  forms  of  great  strength  and  size  are  found. 
Sauroid  fishes,  and  many  species  assimilated  to  the 
shark  tribe,  attained  at  this  age  their  highest  develop- 
ment. Grreat  in  number  and  in  strength,  and  voracious 
as  reptiles,  they  held  dominion  as  free-swimmers  in 
the  waters,  while  the  cephalopods  ruled  the  region 
below. 

In  the  upper  portion  of  this  group,  reptilian  forms 
were  first  introduced.  ^^They  were  not,  however, 
members  of  that  group  through  which  the  passage 
from  sauroid  fishes  to  true  saurians  takes  place,  but 
belonged  to  a higher  and  to  a complicated  type  of  that 
form.  It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  while  a progress- 
ive and  general  advance  in  point  of  organization  is,  in 
one  sense,  a method  observed  in  nature,  still  there  is 
not  such  a regular  gradation  that  an  animal  of  a lower 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  51 


organization  can  be  supposed  to  be  employed  as  the 
agent  in  introducing  a higher  group.^^ 

SALIFEROUS  FORMATION. THIRD  LIFE  PERIOD. 

At  the  close  of  the  carboniferous  system^  convulsions 
occurred^  which  occasioned  changes  in  the  seas  and  in 
the  land  surface  of  the  earth.  The  marks  of  these 
convulsions^  intervening  between  the  carboniferous  and 
saliferous  groups^  are  visible  over  most  portions  of  the 
globe  that  have  been  examined.  Upheavals  of  ocean 
beds — strong  ocean  currents — volcanic  deposits — por- 
phyritic  dykes — twisted  and  overlapping  strata^  indi- 
cate a series  of  convulsions  of  great  power  and  widely 
extended.  This  series  of  catastrophes  was  succeeded, 
as  was  the  previous  one  between  the  Cambrian  and 
carboniferous  rocks,  by  a deposit  of  silicious  material 
of  red  texture,  and  called  the  new  red  sandstone. 
Upon  this  sandstone,  in  calmer  waters,  the  magnesian 
limestones  were  thrown  down,  succeeding  which  sili- 
cious and  calcareous  strata  intervene  up  to  the  lias  of 
the  oolitic  groups. 

During  the  convulsions  which  changed  the  conditions 
of  the  surface  at  the  beginning  of  the  saliferous  period, 

V 

most  of  the  species  of  animals  which  existed  during 

* Ancient  World,  c.  5. 


Of  iLimoia 
umm 


52  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 

the  preceding  period  were  destroyed.  MoUusks  and 
fishes  no  longer  hold  undisputed  empire  in  the  seas. 
Some  species  are  preserved,  but  the  forms  of  the  sur- 
vivors in  most  instances  are  changed.  Species  of 
terebratula — ^^the  aristocracy  of  the  seas'' — maintain 
their  place  and  proper  persons.  Nautili  and  fish-sharks 
remain,  but  diminished  in  number  and  in  size.  Life, 
for  the  most  part,  exhibits  itself  in  new  forms.  Birds, 
and  bactrians,  and  reptilians  are  prevalent.  Land 
vegetation  is  changed.  But  few  plants  of  the  coal- 
measure  species  survive.  The  evidence  is  full  that  this 
was  not  an  age  of  exuberant  vegetation,  as  the  pre- 
vious one  had  been.  The  chief  denizens  of  thi^  period 
were  enormous  frogs  ; and  some  remains  of  birds  are 
found,  of  a size  and  structure  which  partake  of  the 
marvelous.  Many  of  the  bactrians  approached  the 
lizard  in  form,  and  the  birds  were  probably  wingless — 
waders  and  carnivorous. 

OOLITIC  FORMATION. FOURTH  LIFE  PERIOD. 

Succeeding  the  saliferous  rocks,  or  rather  in  continu- 
ation of  the  same  deposits,f  we  reach  the  oolitic  group, 

* Sir  Charles  Ljell’s  examinations  in  America,  and  the  New  Zealand 
^ specimens  of  Mr.  W.  Mantell,  verify  all  that  could  be  imagined  of  size  and 
structure  in  aves. 

f The  saliferous  and  the  oolitic  should  probably  be  reckoned  one  life 
neriod. 


AND  THE  INFEEENOES  AUTHORIZED.  53 


in  wliicli  reptilian  life  is  conspicuous  in  the  sea^  land 
and  atmosphere.  Large  in  dimensions^  various  in  spe- 
cieS;  and  mostly  dissimilar  from  forms  of  life  before  or 
since^  reptiles  swam  in  the  seas^  crawled  upon  the  land, 
and  the  pterodactyl  expanded  its  leathern  wings,  and 
betook  itself  to  the  air.  Changes  of  ocean  and  land 
occur  at  this  period,  but  no  such  general  destruction 
of  species  and  introduction  of  new  forms,  as  occurred 
at  the  beginning  of  the  preceding  formation.  During 
the  deposition  of  the  oolites,  insects  appear  in  the  air 
and  upon  the  earth,  and  the  remains  of  marsupialia 
indicate  the  first  presence  in  the  series  of  advancing 
life,  of  the  lowest  order  of  mammifers. 

THE  CRETACEOUS  FORMATION. FIFTH  LIFE  PERIOD. 

Following  the  oolitic,  we  rise  to  the  cretaceous 
formation.  The  first  strata,  or  green  sand,  indicate 
another  change  in  the  condition  of  the  seas.  The 
change  is  most  apparent  over  the  Continent  and  in 
North  America,  but  it  is  not  marked  by  any  evidences 
of  turbulence,  or  of  the  presence  of  destructive  catas- 
trophes, such  as  appear  at  some  preceding  and  suc- 
ceeding eras  in  the  earth's  history.  The  formation 
above  the  sand  is  mostly  cretaceous.  Marine  life  is 
somewhat  changed.  New  species  of  fishes  appear. 


54  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 

more  assimilated  to  those  living  in  the  present  oceans. 
Reptiles  still  exist,  as  in  the  preceding  series  of  rocks. 
Some  new  saurians  have  been  discovered.  Encrinites, 
polyps,  and  mollusks  are  abundant.  Traces  of  birds 
are  not  wanting.  Zoophitae  swarmed  in  the  oceans, 
and  innumerable  myriads  of  animalculae  have  left  their 
shining  shields  in  the  cretaceous  strata  of  England 
and  the  Continent. 

TERTIARY  FORMATION. SIXTH  LIFE  PERIOD. 

The  tertiary  groups  lying  above  the  cretaceous,  are 
immediately  subjacent  to  the  drift,  which  marks  the 
introduction  of  the  present  mundane  period.  They 
consist  of  stratified  rocks,  formed  in  limited  seas  and 
estuaries,  both  of  salt  and  fresh  water.  They  lie  con- 
formably upon  the  cretaceous  strata,  and  are  found 
covering  large  areas  in  Europe,  and  in  the  western 
parts  of  the  United  States. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  tertiary  deposits  ex- 
tensive elevations  of  land  took  place,  and  some  of  the 
highest  mountain  chains  were  upheaved.  Almost  the 
entire  number  of  living  species  were  again  changed  by 
the  convulsions  which  terminated  the  cretaceous  strata, 
and  elevated  the  extended  land  surface  of  the  tertiary 

* If  the  microscope  has  not  beguiled  the  fancy  of  observers,  in  some 


cases. 


AND  THE  INFEEENCES  AUTHORIZED.  55 


deposits.  Tertiary  life  differs  for  the  most  part  from 
preceding  species.  Land  and  marine  animals  are  in- 
troduced in  great  numbers,  hut  they  differ  from  pre- 
ceding species  about  as  widely  as  they  do  from  present 
animals.  Not  one  in  twenty  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
seas,  and  scarcely  any  upon  the  land,  are  identical  with 
species  now  living.  As  the  tertiary  deposits  advance 
to  the  close  of  the  period,  the  assimilation  of  animals 
to  present  species  becomes  more  apparent.  In  the 
uppermost  strata  of  the  tertiary,  one  half  of  the  marine 
animals  have  living  analogues  in  the  present  seas,  and 
a few  species  of  land  animals  still  live,  which  existed 
before  the  change  in  the  eartVs  surface  took  place, 
which  was  succeeded  by  the  present  order  of  things. 

THE  DRIFT  FORMATION. SEVENTH  LIFE  PERIOD. 

The  last  great  change  upon  the  earth^s  suiface,  after 
which  succeeds  the  present  order  of  things,  is  called 
the  Drift  Formation.  It  was  introduced  by  a move- 
ment of  the  seas  over  the  land,  the  cause  of  which 
geologists  have  not  been  able  satisfactorily  to  deter- 
mine. The  general  features  of  the  formation,  and  the 
character  of  the  force  which  produced  it,  are  pretty  ac- 
curately determined  ; but  the  causes  which  brought 
those  forces  into  play  are  not  known. 


56  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 

A wave  or  flood,  loaded  with  masses  of  ice  and 
broken  rock,  j)assed  with  its  burden  over  most  of  the 
northern  and  temperate  regions.  This  flood-current 
rose  above  many  mountains  of  considerable  altitude, 
and  its  direction  in  many  cases  was  more  or  less  affect- 
ed by  high  mountain  chains.  Large  masses  of  rock, 
torn  from  their  beds  by  the  power  of  the  current, 
dropped  at  distances  proportioned  to  their  gravity. 
Smaller  masses  were  worn  and  carried  further  by  the 
wave ; while  the  softer  masses  of  sand  and  limestone 
were  comminuted,  and  carried  by  the  inundation  over 
the  hills  and  through  the  valleys  of  most  of  the  known 
world.  The  lowest  strata  of  the  drift  is  often  of  a 
coarse  material,  of  a breccia  and  conglomerate  charac- 
ter. Above  these  are  belts  of  clay  ; and  still  higher, 
flne  sand  deposits  : all  together  indicating  flood  and 
force  in  the  commencement,  which  terminated  in  calm- 
er waters,  quietly  subsiding  from  the  surface.  During 
the  deposition  of  the  drift  the  temperature  w;as  greatly 
depressed.  Animals  existing  during  the  last  division 
of  the  tertiary  period,  when  the  drift  wave  overflowed 
the  earth,  were  swept  from  the  surface,  and  buried  in 
estuaries  and  eddies,  from  which  their  remains  are  now 
exhumed  and  restored  as  the  museum-wonders  of  a 
former  world.  But  few  of  many  species  of  land  animals 
survived  the  drift  wave.  From  the  subsiding  waters 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  57 


of  the  flood  our  present  subsoils  were  deposited^  lighter 
upon  the  hills,  but  a deeper  and  rich  diluvium  in  the 
valleys  and  lower  levels  of  the  globe.  Thenceforward 
to  the  present  time,  the  water-course^  and  the  con- 
formation of  the  surface  have  remained  steadfast,  dis- 
turbed only  by  paroxysms  of  earthquake  and  volcanic 
action,  which  indicate  that  the  forces  still  operate 
which  have  heretofore  changed  the  surface  aspect  of 
the  globe.  And  in  reason's  ear  they  whisper  the  ad- 
monition, that  the  tenure  by  which  present  races  hold 
possession  of  the  earth  is  not  eternal. 

This  sketch,  with  the  preceding  table,  will  give  dis- 
tinctness to  the  conclusion,  accepted  in  a general  sense 
by  all  who  are  conversant  with  the  subject,  that  the 
exercise  of  creative  energy  in  our  world  is  marked  by 
the  principle  of  progress. 

It  is  possible  that  many  valuable  writers,  in  such 
passages  as  seem  to  deny  progress  on  the  ascending 
scale,  mean  only  to  protect  the  theistic  argument 
against  some  modification  of  the  Lamarkean  hypothe- 
sis. They  mean  only  to  contest  the  proposition  that 
there  is  a law  of  development,  proceeding  in  consecu- 
tive advances  hy  the  transmutation  of  one  species  into 
another.  That  there  is  a progressive  ascent  from  the 
first  created  forms  of  marine  life  up  to  the  mammals 
of  the  tertiary  and  historic  periods,  no  one  denies. 

3^ 


58 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 


While  it  is  admitted  that  the  lowest  beings  on  the 
scale  were  as  perfect  in  themselves  as  the  higher  ones, 
and  their  functions  as  well  adapted  to  attain  the  par- 
ticular organic  ends  of  their  being,  in  the  conditions  in 
which  they  were  placed  ; yet  the  facts  which  show  the 
advance  of  created  beings  in  forms  and  faculties  are 
beyond  all  question. 

It  abates  the  strength  of  the  evidence  for  the  exist- 
ence of  God  to  assume  that  there  has  been  no  progress 
in  the  work  of  creation.  We  have  often  wondered  at 
the  reluctance  which  some  excellent  men  have  exhibit- 
ed in  admitting  the  full  strength  of  a fact,  verified  by 
a thousand  different  testimonies,  succeeding  each  other 
from  first  to  last  upon  the  theater  of  creation.  If  it 
could  be  proved  that  there  had  been  no  progress  in 
form  and  faculties,  but  that  vitality  had  flowed  around 
in  an  organic  circle, an  important  witness  for  the 
being  and  perfections  of  God  would  be  dead. 

THE  FACT  OF  PROGRESS  BEING  ESTABLISHED,  THE  CONCLUSION 
WHICH  RESULTS, 

If  it  be  admitted  that  progress  is  manifest  in  the 
economy  of  creation,  then  it  follows,  infallibly,  that 

* ovk  dv  rjv  aTrecpov  xpovov  y vi)^,  dTiXd  rd  avrd  delj  y TzepiodG), 

7]  aAAwf  elnep  TTporepov  ivepyeca  dvvdpeDg.  ei  6e  to  avrd  del  nepiodip  del 
Tt  del  peveLv  ivepyovv.” — Aristotle^  Metaph.  xii.  c.  6.  It  maybe  that  Aris- 
totle does  not  give  the  fair  sense  of  Plato  in  this  passage. 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  AUTHORIZED.  59 


that  progress  had  a beginning.  We  do  not  affirm 
again  that  matter  had  a beginning.  What  we  had  to 
say  on  that  subject  was  exhibited  in  a preceding  chap- 
ter ; but  we  say  now^  that  a creation  of  finite  forms 
and  faculties^  advancing  from  lower  to  higher^  accord- 
ing to  a principle  of  progress — such  a creation  must 
have  had  a beginning ; and  we  may  add,  that  the  pro- 
gress of  finite  material  forms  must  have  an  end. 

It  is  so  manifest  a truism  that  progress  indicates  a 
beginning,  that  the  statement  can  not  be  argued.  We 
can,  however,  define  and  illustrate  the  idea,  and  free  it 
from  objections. 

By  the  statement  that  progress  indicates  a begin- 
ning, we  do  not  mean  progress  in  a circle,  as  the  earth 
moves  round  the  sun.  Even  in  that  case — unless  mat- 
ter is  as  old  as  motion,  and  both  are  eternal — a begin- 
ning might  be  predicated.  We  speak  of  the  fact  of 
progress  in  creation,  as  it  is  proved  and  illustrated  in 
preceding  pages.  There  has  been  progress  in  the  con- 
ditions of  our  earth,  and  in  the  forms  and  faculties  of 
organized  beings  upon  the  earth.  This  is  a fact.  The 
chain,  then,  may  be  run  back  indefinitely,  if  we  can 
not  identify  the  point  of  beginning  ; but,  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  fact,  it  can  not  be  extended  infinitely.  We 
believe  that  human  investigation  has  defined  the  place 
of  beginning  of  organic  life  with  sufficient  precision. 


60 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FACTS, 


But  if  the  forms  of  life  have  advanced  on  an  ascending 
scale,  even  from  a point  which  can  not  be  precisely  de- 
fined— if  that  advance  has  been  from  the  first  and 
lowest  in  the  four  orders  up  toward  the  perfect — such 
a scheme  of  progress  being  exhibited  in  the  work  of 
creation,  then  it  is  self-evident  that  that  scheme  must 
have  had  a beginning  at  some  point  in  time. 

This  conclusion  being  reached,  we  have  then  a 
clearly-defined  point  of  departure  whence  to  proceed  in 
the  further  process  of  the  argument.  And,  at  the 
same  time,  the  evidence  which  the  principle  of  progress 
itself  furnishes  for  the  existence  of  God  is  distinct  and 
forcible.  It  being  settled  that  organic  forms  and  laws 
had  a beginning  in^  time  and  place  upon  the  earth, 
then,  by  the  constitution  of  the  mind,^^  a cause  ade- 
quate to  the  production  of  these  effects  must  be  as- 
sumed. And  if  the  same  agencies,  the  same  plan-,  the 
same  forces  and  laws,  are  connected  with  the  scheme 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  and  if  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  end  of  the  scheme  includes  the  intelligent  and 
moral,  then  the  cause  that  originated  and  advanced 
the  series  contemplated  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
and  is,  therefore,  an  intelligent  and  moral  cause,  ade- 
quate to  the  production  of  all  created  things — which  is 
the  Divine  Mind. 

* As  affirmed  in  chap.  i.  Preliminary  Statement 


AND  THE  INFERENCES  A'U  T H 0 R I Z E D . 61 


We  will  condense  and  repeat  the  conclusion  : — Pro- 
gress on  an  ascending  scale  must  have  had  a beginning. 
If  the  created  series  are  developed  according  to  a plan, 
then  the  end  must  have  been  contemplated  from  the 
beginning.  If  the  process  of  advance  is  characterized 
by  unijby  of  agency,  and  the  end  of  the  series  by  intel- 
lectual and  moral  qualities,  then  the  cause  of  the  whole 
economy  is  one  intelligent  moral  Power ^ adequate  to 
the  production  of  the  whole  scheme  of  the  creation  : 
but  a power  possessing  such  attributes  is  God. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE,  AND  THE  EVIDENCE  THAT  PHYS- 
ICAL FORCES  AND  LAWS  HAVE  BEEN  USED  AS  INSTRUMENTALI- 
TIES IN  ACCOMPLISHING  THE  FINAL  END  IN  THE  GREAT  SCHEME 
OF  CREATION. 

We  shall  not  endeavor  to  add  any  thing  to  the  argu- 
ment derived  from  the  design  apparent  in  the  physical 
structure  of  living  beings.  This  subject  has  been  fully 
investigated^  and  the  strength  of  the  evidence,  ex- 
amined and  cross-examined,  is  fairly  before  the  world. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  in  the  present  aspect  of  the  ques- 
tion to  expend  labor  upon  the  adaptations  apparent  in 
the  structure  of  creatures  that  have  perished,  but 
which  have  left  medals  of  their  physical  conformation 
in  the  strata  of  the  earth.  Cuvier,  Owen,  and  their 
collaborators  have  done  satisfactory  service  in  this  de- 
partment of  inquiry.  Points  connected  with  the 
mechanism  of  animal  forms  have  for  the  most  part 
ceased  to  be  subjects  of  inquiry.  The  point  of  discus- 
sion in  our  own  times  relates  more  to  ultimate  ques- 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  68 


tions,  which,  lie  back  of  the  particular  adaptations  ob- 
servable in  animated  beings. 

Admitting  that  design  is  apparent  in  the  organism 
of  the  animal  creation^  the  question  is  agitated^  wheth- 
er the  existence  of  the  organic  kingdoms  of  nature^  and 
the  adaptations  observable  in  the  structure  of  things, 
may  not  be  accounted  for  in  some  other  way  than  by 
assuming  the  efficient  agency  of  one  intelligent  moral 
being,  adequate  to  the  production  of  the  phenomena — ^ 
whether  the  inherent  properties  of  matter  and  the  rule 
of  law  are  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  production 
of  all  the  phenomena  which  we  perceive  ? It  is  diffi- 
cult to  give  definiteness  to  the  point  of  inquiry  which 
most  attracts  the  attention  of  the  advocates  and  oppo- 
nents of  Theism  in  our  own  times  ; the  preceding  sen- 
tences will  give  its  general  aspect.  To  this  aspect  of 
the  question — one  which  has  exhibited  itself  as  a final 
issue  in  all  ages — we  shall  look  more  particularly  in 
the  current  and  following  chapters  of  this  book. 

We  have  noticed  the  evidence  derived  from  the  dis- 
positions of  matter  and  the  structure  of  animal  organ- 
isms. Paley  and  his  annotators,  and  more  recently  the 
Bridgewater  writers,  have  left  little  to  be  accomplished 
in  this  field  of  inquiry,  except  to  add  the  testimony 
of  any  new  facts  which  may  be  gained  by  future  re- 
searches. Eeferring  the  reader  to  these  able  works  for 


64  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 


details^  the  following  paragraph  will  give  a view  of  the 
conclusions  fairly  reached  hy  researches  in  fossil  com- 
parative anatomy.  (The  same  conclusions  are,  of 
course/  deduced  more  obviously  from  the  mechanism 
of  living  species.) 

In  the  conclusion  of  BucMand^s  Bridgewater  Treat- 
ise he  says — In  all  the  numerous  examples  of  design 
which  we  have  selected  from  the  various  animal  and 
vegetable  remains  that  occur  in  a fossil  state,  there  is 
such  a never-failing  identity  in  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  their  construction,  and  such  uniform  adoption 
of  analogous  means  to  produce  various  ends,  with  so 
much  only  of  departure  from  one  common  type  of 
mechanism  as  was  requisite  to  adapt  each  instrument* 
to  its  own  especial  function,  and  to  fit  each  species  to 
its  own  peculiar  place  and  office  in  the  scale  of  created 
beings,  that  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  acknowledge,  in  all 
these  facts,  a demonstration  of  the  unity  of  the  Intelli- 
gence in  which  such  harmony  originated  ; and  we  may 
almost  dare  to  assert,  that  neither  Atheism  or  Polythe- 
ism would  ever  have  found  acceptance  in  the  world, 
had  the  evidence  of  high  intelligence  and  unity  of  de- 
sign, which  have  been  disclosed  by  modern  discoveries 
in  physica^  science,  been  fully  made  known  to  the 
authors  or  the  abettors  of  systems  to  which  they  are  so 
diametrically  opposed.  It  is  the  same  hand-writing 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  65 


that  we  read;  the  same  system  and  contrivance  that 
we  trace  ; the  unity  of  object  and  relation  to  final 
causes  which  we  see  maintained  throughout;  and 
constantly  proclaiming  the  Unity  of  the  Great  Divine 
Original/^ 

Leaving  here;  with  these  brief  references;  the  evi- 
dence deduced  from  the  mechanical  conformation  of 
thingS;  we  turn  to  another  important  division  of  evi- 
dence; which  deduces  from  the  arrangement  and  c?e- 
velopment  of  a series  of  things  the  conclusion  that  a 
supervising  Power  controlled  the  advance  of  the  series 
in  view  of  a final  end.  To  this  view  of  the  general 
subject  the  attention  of  inquirers  has  not  been  so  much 
directed.  The  evidence  here  may  be  so  exhibited  as  to 
announce  with  perspicuity;  and  we  trust  with  satisfac- 
tory conclusivenesS;  the  fact  that  one  Supreme  Mind 
exists  and  reigns. 

In  producing  this  argument;  that  point  which  Buck- 
land  sets  forth  as  the  result  of  his  reasoning  in  the 
paragraph  just  quoted  should  be  distinctly  observed- — 
that  iS;  Unity  in  the  great  governing  principles  of 
created  mechanism  throughout  all  the  ages  of  the  past. 
We  should  see  distinctly  that  the  same  Intelligence 
has  controlled  in  the  progress  of  creation;  developing 
things  from  lower  to  higher  forms  and  conditions  ; and 
that  the  whole  scheme;  which  rises  from  the  first  up- 


66  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CEEATING  CAUSE. 

ward  to  physical  and  moral  perfection^  is  a Unity, 
Can  these  two  propositions,  Unity  in  the  Cause  and 
Design  in  the  Progress  of  the  Creation,  he  established? 
We  feel  an  earnest  assurance  that  these  propositions 
can  be  proved  ; and  we  shall  hope  to  contribute  some- 
thing, especially  under  the  last  head,  toward  reaching 
the  conclusion.  Much  has  already  been  done  to  de- 
monstrate Unity  of  Intelligence  in  the  Creating  Cause, 
Design  in  the  Progress  of  Creation  as  a single  scheme — 
as  one  grand  economy  connected  by  intelligent  adapt- 
ation of  parts— is  the  direction  in  which  we  will  look 
for  clearer  evidences  of  the  existence  of  one  Supreme 
Being,  who  designed  and  controls  the  scheme  of  crea- 
tion. 

In  the  outset  of  inquiries  in  the  direction  indicated 
we  will  notice  the  facts  establishing  the  immutability 
and  perpetuity  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  proper 
definition  of  the  term  law^  when  used  in  scientific  in- 
quiries. 


UNITY  AND  PERMANENCY  OF  PHYSICAL  AND  ORGANIC  LAW. 

* 

In  comparative  anatomy,  as  Cuvier  and  Owen  have 
demonstrated,*  the  same  principles  of  construction 
have  prevailed  from  first  to  last  in  the  conformation  of 


* See  Owen  on  Limbs. 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  67 

the  animated  creation.  We  have  seen  in  the  synopsis 
introductory  to  these  chapters^  that  the  same  chemical 
and  electrical  forces  and  laws  have  existed  in  all  time. 
The  atoms  and  the  elements  of  matter  combine  with 
and  affect  each  other  now  as  they  ever  have  done. 
New  combinations  may  produce  new  phenomena,  but 
all  are  produced  in  obedience  to  the  same  unchanged 
and  unchangeable  laws.  The  physical  forces  may  have 
acted  at  early  periods  with  more  frequency,  and  the 
resistance  being  less,  with  more  intensity  ; but  physical 
forces  have  affected  matter  according  to  fixed  laws 
forever. 

The  physiological  laws  of  the  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms  have  continued  the  same.  Circulation,  res- 
piration, nutrition,  began  with  the  beginning,  and  must 
continue  to  the  end  of  organization.  The  flowerless 
and  flowering  plants,  the  radiata,  articulata,  mollusca, 
and  vertebrata,  have  been  multiplied  indefinitely  in 
species  ; myriads  have  perished  and  multitudes  survive, 
but  both  extinct  and  living  species  certify  to  the  per- 
petuity  and  immutability  of  the  laws  which  govern  the 
whole.  The  same  principles,  adapting  organized  beings 
to  each  other  and  to  natural  conditions,  have  continued 
from  the  first.  Cuvier  the  eminent  said,  Any  one  who 
observes  merely  the  print  of  a cloven  hoof  may  con- 
clude that  it  has  been  left  by  a ruminant  animal,  and 


68  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 

regard  the  conclusion*  as  equally  certain  with  any  other 
in  physics  or  morals/^ 

There  can  be  no  question  about  the  fact  affirmed  by 
all  science,  that  the  laws  of  matter  have  existed  since 
the  organization  or  collocation^^  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse— ^the  organic  laws  since  the  commencement  of 
organization,  and  specific  physiological  laws  since  the 
commencement  of  specific  genera  of  plants  and  crea- 
tures upon  the  globe.  New  adaptations  and  new 
forms,  rising  to  higher  ends  in  the  scheme  of  progress, 
have  been  originated,  and  with  the  new  collocations 
and  adjustments  connected  with  new  species,  new  laws 
of  instinct  and  of  adaptation  were  likewise  originated. 
But  these  specific  adaptations  are  all  predicated  in 
accordance  with  the  foundation  laws  of  structure, 
which  were  enforced  when  the  first  orders  of  things 
were  created  upon  the  earth.  One  cause,  then,  has 
acted  from  first  to  last  in  the  process  of  creation, 
unless  we  can  attribute  the  origin  and  the  regulated 
activity  of  the  several  forces  of  nature  to  several  dif- 
ferent causes,  but  if  there  be  unity  in  the  general  plan,  ^ 
and  if  all  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature  are  parts  of 
one  system,  and  work  together  in  the  accomplishment 
of  a final  end,  then  unity  of  causation  is  established, 
and  the  instrumental  character  oi  natural  forces  and 
laws  is  fairly  deduced  ; because,  if  an  intelligent  pro- 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  69 

cess  is  carried  to  a designed  end  by  the  operation  of 
natural  forces  and  laws^  we  mnst  either  consider  the 
laws  of  nature  intelligent,  or  that  there  is  an  intelli- 
gent governor,  who  ordained  and  who  controls  the 
forces  and  regulates  the  laws  of  the  universe. 

Here,  then,  we  introduce  the  main  inquiry  which 
it  will  he  our  business  in  this  part  of  our  treatise  to 
investigate.  H<is  the  progress  visible  in  the  process 
of  creation  been  effected  by  the  forces  and  laws  of 
naturCj  as  efficient  and  sufficient  causes  ; or  has  one 
intelligent^  controlling  Power,  used  these  as  instkument- 
ALiTiES  in  accomplishing  the  worh  of  progress,  which 
ultimates  in  an  intelligent  and  moral  end  ? 

DISCRIMINATIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PHRASE  LAW  OP 
NATURE. 

Let  US  endeavor,  at  the  outset,  to  get  a discriminat- 
ing apprehension  of  the  importance  of  the  phrase 
^^laws  of  nature,^^  and  likewise  of  the  points  where 
design  in  the  application  of  natural  forces  and  the 
regulating  rule  of  natural  laws  are  to  be  observed. 
Whewell  has  a succinct  chapter  on  this  subject  : we 
can  do  no  better  than  to  give  some  of  its  leading  para- 
graphs, so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  point  in  question, 
adding  other  discriminations  which  we  think  im- 
portant. 


70  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATINO  CAUSE. 


In  the  phrase  ^ laws  of  nature/  all  properties  of 
the  portions  of  the  material  world  are  included ; aU 
modes  of  action  and  rules  of  causation^  according  to 
which  they  operate  on  each  other.  The  whole  course 
of  the  material  universe^  therefore^  is  hut  the  collect- 
ive result  of  such  laws  ; its  movements  are  only  the 
aggregate  of  their  working.  All  natural  occurrences  in 
the  skies  and  on  the  earth,  in  the  organic  and  in  the 
inorganic  world,  are  determined  by  the  relations  of  the 
elements  and  the  action  of  the  forces,  of  which  the 
rules  are  thus  prescribed  [by  law].  The  relations  and 
rules  by  which  these  occurrences  are  thus  determined 
necessarily  depend  on  measures  of  time  and  space, 
motion  and  force  ; on  quantities,  which  are  subject  to 
numerical  measurement,  and  capable  of  being  con- 
nected by  mathematical  properties. 

It  will  be  our  business  to  show  that  the  laws  which 
really  prevail  in  nature  are,  by  their  form,  that  is,  by 
the  nature  of  the  connection  which  they  establish 
among  the  quantities  and  properties  which  they  regu- 
late, remarkably  adapted  to  the  office  which  is  assigned 
them  ; and  thus  offer  evidence  of  selection,  design,  and 
goodness  in  the  Power  by  which  they  were  established. 
But  these  characters  of  the  legislation  of  the  universe 

* To  include  the  specific  properties  of  things  in  the  term  “laws  of 
nature,”  perplexes,  if  it  does  not  mislead  the  inqu  jer. 


0:if  UNITY  IN  THE  (TREATING  CAUSE.  71 

may  also  be  seen/  in  "many  instances,  in  a manner 
somewhat  different  from  the  selection  of  the  law.  The 
nature  of  the  connection  remaining  the  same,  the  quan- 
tities whioh  it  regulates  may  also,  in  their  magnitude, 
bear  marks  of  selection  and  jpurpose.  For  the  law  may 
be  the  same,  while  the  quantities  to  which  it  applies 
are  different. 

Now  this  being  understood,  the  adaptation  of  a 
law  to  its  purpose  may  appear  in  two  ways — either  in 
the  form  of  the  law^  or  in  the  amount  of  the  magni- 
tude which  it  regulates.  The  form  of  the  law  deter- 
mines in  what  manner  the  fact  shall  take  place  ; the 
arbitrary  magnitude  determines  how  fast^  how  far^  how 
soon.  The  one  gives  a model,  the  other  a measure  of 
the  phenomenon.  The  one  draws  the  plan,  the  other 
the  scale  upon  which  it  is  to  be  executed.  The  one 
gives  the  rule,  the  other  the  rate.  If  either  were 
wrongly  taken,  the  result  would  be  wrong  too/'-" 

These  passages  give  some  degree  of  perspicuity  to 
the  idea  of  natural  law,  but  a more  discriminating 
definition  is  still  necessary.  The  complete  conclusion 
of  the  question  at  issue  with  the  Materialists  can  be 
reached  only  by  a true  definition  of  the  term  law  of 
nature,  as  discriminated  from  the  'properties  and  forces 


* Whewell  on  Gen.  Physics,  c.  2 


72  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE 

m 

of  matter.  Without  perfect  definitions,  no  conclusion 
can  ever  approximate  the  completeness  of  a logical 
demonstration. 


THE  BENEFICIAL  RESULTS  OF  DISCRIMINATING  DEFINITIONS. 

Since  the  intimation  of  Sir  John  Herschel  that  better 
definitions  were  needed  of  these  terms,  in  order  that 
the  vagaries  of  the  fancy  might  not  be  interposed  as 
the  deductions  of  accurate  investigation,  some  advances 
have  been  made  in  a right  direction.  Mr.  M^Oosh 
(b.  ii.  c.  1)  has  a better  analysis  of  the  whole  subject, 
which  includes  the  properties,  forces,  and  laws  of  mat- 
ter, than  had  been  given  before  ; and  the  time,  we 
think,  is  hastening,  when  the  scientific  vocabulary  of 
first  things  will  be  settled  and  accepted.  When  that 
time  shall  have  come  another  chapter  will  be  written 
by  the  Theists  of  that  day,  which  will  bring  to  an  end 
the  discussion  between  those  who  believe  in  the  divin- 
ity of  mind  and  those  who  believe  in  the  divinity  of 
matter.  It  will  then  be  seen  that  design  is  apparent, 
not  only  in  the  adjustment  of  the  parts  of  the  physical 
universe  in  time,  and  space,  and  proportion,  and  in  the 
'^sdection  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  changes  of 
things  ; but  it  will  likewise  be  seen,  that  new  species 
in  the  organic  kingdoms  of  nature  require  adjustment 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  73 


and  regulation  by  law^  as  much  as  would  the  creation 
of  a new  globe,  or  the  interposition  of  some  new  body 
in  the  solar  system.  The  specific  properties  of  a fly 
and  its  adaptation  to  external  nature  are  as  complex 
and  as  manifold  as  the  properties  and  adaptations  of  a 
globe.  It  is  an  error  which  supposes  that  power  and 
wisdom  in  the  Creator  is  in  anywise  to  be  estimated  by 
the  magnitudes  of  material  bodies. 

It  will  be  seen  likewise,  that  if  matter  possess  mo- 
tion in  any  sense,  it  is  a latent  property~if  it  have  a 
virtuSj  it  is  a property  or  quality  that  depends  on  the 
disposition  or  combination  of  things — that  the  proper- 
ties of  matter  are  developed  in  forces  by  the  adjust- 
ment of  one  portion  of  matter  in  relation  to  another. 
The  adjustment  of  things  brings  the  properties  into 
action,  and  the  law  merely  expresses  the  mode  or 
measure  of  the  force.  Thus,  both  the  forces  of  mat- 
ter and  the  laws  of  matter  depend  upon  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  elements  and  masses  of  matter  ; and  in^ 
stead  of  law  being  the  cause  of  motion^  it  is  its  measure. 

* “ The  problem  of  inductive  logic  may  be  summed  up  in  two  ques- 
tions: How  to  ascertain  the  laws  of  nature?  and  how,  after  having 
ascertained  them,  to  follow  them  into  their  results  ? On  the  other  hand, 
we  must  not  suffer  ourselves  to  imagine  that  this  mode  of  statement 
amounts  to  the  real  analysis,  or  to  any  thing  but  a mere  verbal  transform-  ^ 
ation  of  the  problem ; for  the  expression.  Laws  of  Nature^  means  nothing^j^ 
but  the  uniformities  which  exist  among  natural  phenomena.” — MilVs  Sy's 
of  LogiCj  b.  iii.  e.  4. 


4 


74  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 


The  proper  analysis  having  been  made^  and  defini- 
tions settled  and  accepted^  we  shall  then  see  that  the 
introduction  of  a new  species  into  a system  would  de- 
range the  whole  economy  of  nature  in  the  region  of  its 
location,  unless  its  new  properties  and  instincts  (if  we 
may  make  such  a distinction)  were  adjusted  to  all  sur- 
rounding things.  And  even  then,  it  may  be  doubtful 
whether,  in  the  nature  of  things,  a new  species  could 
be  introduced  and  preserved,  unless  there  were  a coe- 
taneous  destruction  of  some  old  species — the  intro- 
duction . of  new  conditions,  and  a new  adjustment 
of  the  organic  families  to  surrounding  nature  and 
to  each  other.  All  this  would  be  necessary,  at  least 
in  the  particular  locality  where  the  new  life  prop- 
erties and  forms  were  introduced.  The  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms  of  nature  are  a unity  in  particular 
locations,  and  perhaps  as  a general  whole.  They  are 
a unity  by  the  interlocking  adaptations  of  one  part  to 
the  other.  A hybrid  can  not  continue^  because  things 
are  not  adjusted  to  its  mixed  nature.  The  conditions 
of  nature  favor  variety  in  form  and  feature,  but  resist 
any  interposition  of  new  properties  and  parts.  All 
organized  things  would  lose  definite  properties  and 
parts,  if  the  integrity  of  species  could  be  violated — 
natural  objects  in  the  organic  world  would  become  a 
conglomeration  of  monstrosities  ; and  science,  in  rela- 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAU«E.  76 


tion  to  the  parts,  processes,  and  laws  of  the  organic 
kingdoms,  could  not  exist.  The  forms  of  matter  may 
change  below  the  line  of  organization  ; but  when  new 
properties  are  developed  into  new  forces,  which  assimi- 
late matter  into  new  forms,  then  the  new  individual 
needs  to  be  balanced  and  adjusted  to  other  organic 
bodies  and  to  inorganic  nature,  and  the  wisdom  and 
power  interposed  to  accomplish  the  end  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  Divine  mind. 

With  this  notice  of  the  proper  definition  and  con- 
nection of  natural  properties,"^  ^^forces,""  and  laws,"" 
and  the  relation  of  these  to  the  introduction  of  new 
species,  we  will  notice  the  evidences  of  the  instrument- 
al character  of  law  and  force  in  the  process  of  crea- 
tion. An  illustration  will  set  the  subject  distinctly 
before  us : 

ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  DEVELOPMENT 
THEORY  AND  DIVINE  INTERPOSITION  ACCORDING  TO  LAW. 

The  steam-engine — simple  at  first  in  its  form,  and 
adapted  to  few  purposes — has  become  complex  in  the 
structure  of  its  machinery,  and  varied  in  the  applica- 
tion of  its  power.  But  no  new  mechanic  forces,  no 
new  dynamic  laws,  have  been  originated  ; by  new  ad- 
justments, and  the  addition  of  new  parts  adjusted  to 
th^  others,  designed  and  arranged  by  the  mechanist,  its 


76  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 

powers  have  been  increased^  its  form  and  movements 
improved,  and’  its  accomplishments  greatly  varied.  The 
improvement  of  the  engine,  from  the  first  simple  mech- 
anism of  Watt  up  to  the  last  noble  structure  placed 
on  board  an  ocean  steamer,  has  been  effected  by  grad- 
ual development.  The  advance  has  been  produced  by 
reconstructing  the  machine  with  improved  parts,  and 
by  superadding  one  improvernent  to  another.  The  ad- 
ditional parts  added  by  the  designer  developed  the 
force  in  new  directions,  which  were  adapted  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  new  purposes.  There  are  series  of 
advances  iu  different  parts  and  processes  of  the  mech- 
anism, which  may  all  be  traced  back  as  modifica- 
tions and  improvements  of  the  first  simple  form  of  the 
machine. 

*Kow,  does  it  ever  occur  to  any  one  that  the  perma- 
nent laws  of  things,  or  any  of  the  forces  of  matter, 
would  have  added  the  new  parts,  diversified  the  forces, 
and  improved  the  engine,  almost  to  perfection,  in  its 
adaptations  ? The  fact  that  the  laws  of  matter  are 
immutable  in  their  nature  and  mathematical  in  their 
measure,  renders  such  a supposition  absurd.  The  final 
end  was  reached  by  a designing  mind,  so  locating  and 
adjusting  matter  and  force  in  the  mechanism  as  to  ad- 
vance its  form,  power,  and  adaptations,  from  a low  to  a 
high  degree  of  perfection. 


CTN  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  77 


INTERPOSITION  OF  FORCE  REGULATED  BY  LAW,  A FACT  IN 
MUNDANE  PROGRESS. 

But  in  order  that  our  present  induction  may  he 
removed  from  questionable  premises — removed  even 
beyond  the  domain  of  the  Lamarkean  hypothesis  of 
the  self-adaptation  of  organic  forms  to  conditions  of 
inorganic  nature — we  will  confine  ourselves  mainly  to 
progress  in  the  conditions  of  the  earth^s  surface,  to  the 
design  manifest  in  the  advancement  of  the  earth  from 
the  lowest  to  the  last  mundane  conditions.  Whatever 
may  be  said  about  the  question  how  far  organized 
beings  may  adapt  themselves  to  their  circumstances,  it 
will  be  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  forces  of  nature 
operate  upon  inorganic  matter  in  specific  and  determi- 
nate modes  and  measures.  Safety  and  certainty 
throughout  the  universe  depend  upon  this  fact. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  there  has  been  pro- 
gress in  the  physical  conditions  of  our  globe,  and  in  the 
adaptation  of  the  earth's  surface  to  the  uses  of  ani- 
mated beings ; then,  if  the  forces  of  matter  have  been 
used  instrumentally  to  accomplish  by  their  operation 
an  intelligent  end,  a Groverning  Mind,  above  and  apart 
from  the  forces  and  laws  of  nature,  will  be  made  man- 
ifest. 

We  inquire  : In  the  advancement  of  the  earth  from 


78  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  C A U S if. 

its  primitive  to  its  present  condition^  have  physical 
forces  and  laws  been  used  as  instrumentalities  to  ac- 
complish ends  in  which  design  is  clearly  perceived  ? 
If  an  affirmative  to  this  inquiry  can  he  established,  it 
will  be  proved  that  such  phrases  as  creation  by  law'^ 
can  have  no  other  import  than  that  attached  to  sec- 
ond causes  in  the  work  of  creation.  In  collating  the 
facts,  as  we  have  before  stated,  we  shall  notice  main- 
ly the  agency  of  physical  forces,  in  order  that  the 
question  concerning  the  adaptive  proclivity  of  living 
beings  may  not  intervene. 

The  disturbance  of  the  earth's  crust  by  igneous 
agency — the  turbulence  of  the  primitive  seas,  occa- 
sioned by  disruptions  and  elevations  from  below — the 
first  elevation  of  dry  land,  and  the  succeeding  changes 
of  position  in  land  and  ocean,  were  all  effected  by 
physical  forces.  This  constant  change  in  the  success- 
ive conditioi\s  of  the  earth  continued  until  the  drift 
formation,  which  immediately  preceded  the  appearance 
of  man  upon  the  globe. 

Assuming,  then,  what  no  one  will  doubt,  that  all 
these  changes  have  been  effected  by  physical  forces, 
which  possess  in  themselves  no  adaptive  capability,  we 
inquire  : Have  natural  forces  and  laics  been  so  con-- 
trolled  and  appVed  as  to  work  out  a condition  of  things 
ivhich  evince  th  presiding  agency  of  the  Divine  mindy 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CHEATING  CAUSE.  79 


adjusting  all  the  changes  from  first  to  last  in  view  of  a 
future  definite  end  ? 

The  disruptions  which  threw  up  the  mountains^  and 
elevated  portions  of  dry  land  from  beneath  the  seas, 
were  events  isolated  in  time  and  place,  and  occurring 
without  connection  with  each  other  in  any  physical  sense 
whatever.  Each  produced  a single,  separate  result, 
which  in  itself  could  be  of  no  value  in  accomplishing 
any  intelligent  design  yet  the  whole  process  produced 
a final  result  so  obviously  marked  by  designing  Intelli- 
gence, that  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  how  such  testi- 
mony can  be  doubted  or  disregarded.  If  an  end, 
marked  by  obvious  indications  of  design,  is  accom- 
plished by  the  interposition  of  blind  forces,  isolated  in 
time  and  place,  then  certainly  the  connection  in  the 
plan  and  the  design  in  the  final  end  must  inhere  in  a 
mind'superior  to  these  forces  and  laws. 

We  come  now  to  notice  a single  advancing  process, 
in  which  different  disrupting  forces  and  matter  affected 
by  various  laws  are  combined  in  producing  a common 
and  designed  result. 

The  elevation  of  one  portion  of  the  surface  and  the 
depression  of  another  gathered  the  water  into  seas  and 
separated  the  dry  land.  The  fractures  of  the  strata, 
the  upheaval  of  hills  and  mountains,  and  the  currents 
created  by  these,  produced  living  streams  of  water  be- 


80  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 


low  and  above  tlie  surface.  Without  this  varied  sur- 
face aspect^  and  without  these  springs  and  streams  of 
living  water^  the  earthy  or  rather  the  universal  ocean^ 
could  have  been  inhabited  only  by  inferior  species  of 
living  things. 

Again  : The  agitations  of . the  strata^  the  seas  and 
the  atmosphere^  caused  the  sedimentary  rocks  to  be 
laid  down  upon  the  indurated  granite.  Generally 
speaking^  these  rocks  are  softer  in  their  texture,  ex- 
hibiting stratification  and  cleavage,  and  becoming  in 
all  respects  better  adapted  to  economic  uses,  as  they 
rise  from  lower  to  higher  formations. 

Again : The  fractures  and  veins,  especially  those 
produced  in  the  lower  strata  of  rocks,  are  filled  fre- 
quently, in  primitive  regions,  with  breccia,  mingled 
with  metallic  ores.  In  higher  series  the  most  useful 
ores  are  deposited  in  sedimentary  beds.  Limestone 
and  saline  rock  are  likewise  intermingled  with  other 
strata  in  almost  every  region  of  the  globe.  The  ores, 
subsequently  to  their  location  in  the  different  form- 
ations, have  been  made  accessible  by  convulsions  from 
below  and  the  erosion  of  waters  above.  In  the  prim- 
itive regions  they  are  located  by  one  force ; in  the 
secondary  region  by  a different  one  ; yet  in  all  regions 
the  necessary  ores  are  located  : so  that  to  obtain  them 
develops  human  faculties  and  promotes  human  in- 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  81 


terests  ; aud^  being  obtained^  tbey  subserve  ends  which 
intelligent  beings  alone  can  appreciate  and  accomplish. 

Again  : Before  manj  of  the  great  upheavals  had  oc- 
curred^ the  surface  was  covered  to  a great  extent 
with  shallow  seas  and  basins  of  water.  These  tepid 
waters  and  the  moist  atmosphere^  undoubtedly  sur- 
charged to  a greater  extent  than  now  with  carbonic 
acid^  were  conditions  adapted  to  produce  in  these 
warm  basins^  and  upon  the  new^  rich  surface^  an  enor- 
mous growth  of  vegetation.  Growing  upon  the  ac- 
clivities^ and  accumulating  upon  itself  in  the  shallow 
seas  for  ageS;  masses  of  vegetable  matter  covered  vast 
areas  of  the  earth's  surface.  This  exuberant  vege- 
tation was  of  no  value  to  any  thing  formed  in  connec- 
tion with  it,  but  its  preservation  in  view  of  human  uses 
was  almost,  or  quite,  a necessity.  By  some  process, 
the  character  of  which  we  do  not  now  fully  understand, 
this  vegetation  was  accumulated  and  preserved  from 
decomposition,  and  finally  imbedded  safely  in  the  crust 
of  the  earth.  Elevations  and  depressions  of  the  sur- 
face, comparatively  quiet  in  their  movement  (such  as 
would  not  destroy  but  preserve  the  vegetable  treasure), 
overlaid  the  accumulated  masses  with  strata  of  rock  ; 
thus  preserving  in  the  earth,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  physical  forces,  the  fuel  treasure  for  the  future  man. 

Again  : The  coal-basins  are  located  mainly  in  the 

4^ 


82  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE 

temperate  and  colder  latitudes;  where  a frigid  atmosr 
phere  during  a portion  of  the  year  requires  the  use  of 
fuel.  Within  the  tropicS;  where  the  temperature  is 
adverse  to  human  enterprise;  and  where  artificial  heat 
is  scarcely  needed;  fossil  fuel  scarcely  exists.  Thus 
there  are  indications  of  a Power  controlling  natural 
forces  in  the  conditions  which  produced  the  enormous 
vegetation  of  the  coal-fieldS;  in  the  location  and  lati- 
tude where  it  was  accumulated;  in  the  convulsions 
which  covered  it;  and;  again;  in  the  cracks  and  cat- 
aclysms which  produced  the  valleyS;  and  exposed  the 
fuel  in  the  side-hills;  and  near  the  surface;  accessible 
to  human  agency ; and  yet  all  was  accomplished  by 
the  agency  of  blind  forceS;  isolated  from  each  other  in 
time  and  space;  operating  in  different  forms  and  meas- 
ures; but  their  action  controlled  and  their  results  com- 
bined so  as  to  produce  a beneficent  result. 

Again : What  are  sometimes  called  the  economic 
deposits — a formation  including  iron-orC;  coal;  and 
limestone — ^receive  this  designation  from  the  fact  that 
these  auxiliaries  of  human  enterprise  and  industry  are 
generally  found  near  together  ; it  being  almost  invaria- 
bly true  that  coal  and  iron;  especially;  are  found  in 
close  proximity.  The  coal  necessary  to  fuse  the  oreS; 
to  propel  machinery;  and  to  work  metals  into  form;  is 
deposited  near  the  ore-bearing  strata  ; and  these  two 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CKEATING  CAUSE.  83 


are  often  accompanied  by  tbe  limestone  necessary  for 
material  where  buildings  and  machinery  need  to  be 
erected.  Thus  the  most  important  deposits  which  the 
earth  contains,  and  which,  from  their  relations  to  each 
other  for  economic  purposes,  need  to  be  together,  are 
found  located  in  the  place  and  in  the  form  adapted  to 
subserve  the  great  economic  ends  of  human  society. 
Although  diverse  as  possible  in  their  nature,  each  one 
from  the  others,  yet  the  uses  of  the  one  in  many  re- 
gions can  not  be  developed  without  the  others  ; hence 
their  juxtaposition,  as  well  as  their  various  adaptations 
to  develop  man^s  faculties  and  to  supply  his  wants, 
indicate  the  intelligent  forecast  of  a designing  Mind. 

Again : The  last  catastrophe,  or  drift-wave,  accom- 
plished an  ultimate  end  by  combining  and  using  the 
results  of  all  previous  disturbances.  It  fitted  the  earth 
for  cultivation  by  laying  upon  its  temperate  regions  a 
coating  of  arable  soil.  Soils,  in  order  to  yield  a com- 
pensating return  to  the  cultivator,  must  be  composed 
of  various  elementary  ingredients.  Nothing  can  be 
produced  in  unmixed  clay,  or  sand,  or  lime.  Earths 
composed  of  all  these  mingled  together,  and  containing 
portions  of  iron  and  particles  of  salts,  constitute  the 
soils  best  fitted  for  culture.  By  the  action  of  all  pre- 

* “ I found  the  soil  taken  from  a field  at  Sheffield  Place,  remarkable  for 
producing  flourishing  oaks,  to  consist  of— in  100  parts:  Silex,  56;  alum- 


84  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 


Yious  catastroplies  the  rocky  strata  of  the  different 
formations,  especially  the  softer  sedimentary  rocks,  had 
Tbeen  broken,  and  their  smaller  fragments  pulverized. 
By  this  process  detritus  of  all  the  varieties  of  rock 
which  the  Qarth  contains  had  been  produced,  and  the 
soil  ingredients,  which  needed  to  be  mingled,  lay  at  the 
bottoms  of  the  mountains,  and  upon  the  floors  of  the 
•oceans.  Before  the  drift,  soils  in  particular  localities 
had  been  compounded,  but  the  rocks  were  generally 
composed  of  constituents  much  more  homogeneous 
than  the  drift.  A flnal  catastrophe,  produced  by  physi- 
cal forces,  and  wide-speading  in  its  sweep,  caused  stu- 
pendous waves,  probably  of  ocean  from  the  polar  re- 
gions, laden  with  ice,  to  pass  over  most  of  the  habitable 
regions  of  the  globe.  By  this  deluge  the  sand,  lime, 

ine,  28 ; carbonate  of  lime,  3 ; oxide  of  iron,  5 ; vegetable  matter,  4 ; 
water,  3.” — Sir  K Davy. 

Analysis  of  Soils  from  Good  to  Medium. — The  riglit-band  figures  are  an 
estimate  of  their  comparative  productiveness. — From  the  Bational  Em- 
handman. 


No. 

Clay. 

Sand. 

Carbonate 
of  Lime. 

Organic 

matter. 

Value. 

1 

4... 

IH. . 

100 

2 

81 

6 

4... 

8J. . 

98 

3 

....10 

4. . . 

6i.. 

96 

4 

40 

22 

36.... 

4 .. 

90 

6..... 

14 

49 ... . 

*.21 

Grass  land. 

6 

20.... 

6t 

3.... 

...."....10  .. 

*78 

'7.... 

58..’.. 

36  ... 

2... 

4 .. 

71 

8 

....56.... 

30  ... 

12... 

2 .. 

75 

ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  85 


clay,  and  other  comminuted  earths  and  metallic  ox- 
ids,  wei:e  taken  up,  mingled  together,  and  spread  as  a 
surf^jce-coating  of  soil  over  the  continents.  In  some 
regions  silex  predominated,  in  others  alumine,  in  others 
calcium — all  mingled,  more  or  less,  with  iron  and  or- 
ganic ingredients.  The  combined  result  was  the  pro- 
duction of  good  soils,  and  soils  of  various  productive 
qualities.  Thus  the  event  occurred  last  before  man 
which  was  needful  to  appropriate  the  product  of  pre- 
vious physical,  animal,  and  vegetable  changes,  and  by 
these  to  fit  the  surface  of  the  earth  for  the  residence 
of  a cultivating  being,  such  as  man.^"  It  combined  in 
one  formation  of  the  highest  economic  utility  the 
various  results  of  previous  igneous,  atmospheric,  and 
plutonic  agencies — ^laid  on  the  soil  covering,  and  thus 
accomplishes  a final  end  necessary  to  fit  the  earth  for 
the  residence  of  man  as  a cultivator. 

The  physical  causes  of  this  last  great  change  upon 
the  earth's  surface  are  still  a subject  of  inquiry  with 
the  learned  ;f  but  whatever  they  were,  they  produced 

* Among  the  various  characteristics  by  which  philosophers  have  en- 
deavored to  distinguish  the  genus  homo,  would  not  the  phrase  “ a culti- 
vating animal” — including  the  capacity  to  cultivate  both  matter  a^d  mind 
into  better  than  their  original  conditions — mark  the  genus  by  its  most  es- 
sential and  important-  characteristic  ? 

f We  believe  that  an 'old  theory,  much  discountenanced,  will  yet  be 
seen  to  be  natural  to  the  phenomena,  and  less  in  discordance  with  the 
principles  of  science  than  has  been  supposed. 


86  ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE. 

the  effect  necessary  to  crown  and  close  the  series  of 
changes  which  advanced  the  surface  of  the  earth  to  a 
condition  adapted  ‘to  the  faculties  and  wants  of  intelli- 
gent beings  ; and  as  external  nature  is  adapted  like- 
wise  to  the  moral  faculties  of  men/^  intelligent  and 
moral  designs  have  both  been  accomplished  by  physi- 
cal agencies.  But  we  can  not  suppose  that  physical 
forces  and  laws  can  produce  intelligent  combinations  ; 
hence^  if  design  be  admitted  at  all^  the  conclusion  re- 
sults as  a logical  necessity,  that  an  intelligent  Mind 
presides  over,  controls  the  forces,  and  imposes  the  laws 
of  the  material  world. 

THE  CONCLUSION INTELLIGENT  ENDS  HAVE  BEEN  ACCOMPLISHED 

BY  THE  INTERPOSITION  OF  PHYSICAL  FORCES. 

This  is  only  an  outline  view,  in  a single  case,  of  the 
advancement  of  the  globe  from  a chaotic  condition  to 
an  end  indicating  intelligent  and  moral  design,  the 
process  being  accomplished  by  the  intervention  of 
physical  instrumentalities.  The  argument  might  be 
varied  almost  endlessly,  and  accumulated  to  any  degree 
of  strength.  In  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms 
of  nature  the  same  process,  working  to  the  same  final 
end — adaptation  to  the  uses  of  man — is  apparent. 
The  human  mind  could  not  have  developed  its  me- 
* Chalmers’s  Nat.  TheoL,  b.  iv.  o.  1,  2. 


ON  UNITY  IN  THE  CREATING  CAUSE.  87 


cliaiiical  appetencies  if  man  had  existed  before  hard 
timber  grew  upon  the  earth.  The  connection  between 
man’s  capacities  and  wants,  and  the  domtsticahle  ani- 
mals created  with  him^  could  easily  be  shown.  We 
choose  the  single  outline  given,  because  physical  forces, 
which  have  in  themselves  no  adaptive  powers,  have 
been  used  to  accomplish  an  adapted  and  complicated 
design.  What  has  been  said  will  give  the  reader  an 
apprehension  of  the  form  and  force  of  the  argument  ; 
and  further  reflection,  we  think,  will  not  fail  to 
strengthen  the  conviction  that  an  intelligent  Mind 
presides  over  the  universe,  adjusts  the  parts  of  the 
material  fabric  of  our  world,  develops  their  forces, 
regulates  the  operation  of  forces  by  law,  and  uses 
them  as  instrumentalities ^ ever  working  upward,  and 
working  out,  by  physical  agencies,  a plan  which  in- 
cludes intellectual  and  moral  ends,  and  which  there- 
fore proves  the  existence  of  an  Intellectual  and  Moral 
Cause. 

* Cudworth  apprehends  the  point  at  issue  in  the  days  of  Plato,  and  at 
issue  still.  The  present  efforts  of  materialists,  in  their  ablest  form,  is  noth- 
ing else  than  the  “Democritic  fate,”  exhibited  in  the  forms  of  modern 
philosophy,  and  in  the  phrases  of  tli  e English  language. 


* 


CHAPTER  VI. 


ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  THE  EVIDENCE  SEEN  IN  THE  PROGRESS  OF 
CREATION  RELATING  TO  THE  ADAPTATION  OF  THINGS  TO  EACH 
OTHER,  WHICH  ARE  NOT  DEVELOPED  OUT  OF  EACH  OTHER,  NOR 
CONNECTED  WITH  EACH  OTHER  IN  TIME  AND  SPACE. 

Viewing  the  development  theory  as  apprehended  by 
Lamark^  or  by  able  and  recent  expositors  of  the  doc- 
trine, there  are  some  facts  which,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
can  not  be  made  consistent  with  any  theory  of  progress 
by  the  development  of  one  thing  out  of  another.  If  it 
can  be  shown  that  the  products  natural  to  certain 
mundane  conditions  were  not  adapted  to,  nor  appro- 
priated by,  the  things  which  co-existed  with  these  pro- 
ducts in  the  same  series— if  the  floral  product  of  cer- 
tain strata  is  not  connected  with  the  fauna  of  the  same 
series,  while  it  is  evidently  connected  with  things  ex- 
isting in  future  and  separate  conditions,  then  the  the- 
ory which  affirms  progress  by  law,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Divine  Mind,  fails  in  a point  material  to 
its  vahdity.  At  least,  all  theories  by  which  God  would 


ANOTHEE  VIEW  OF  THE  EVIDENCE.  89 


be  ejected  from  tbe  presiding  control  of  physical  forces 
and  physical  progress  are  proved  fallacious.  The  the- 
istic  argument  will  surely  gain  strength  if  it  can  be 
shown  that  the  organic  product^  and  the  physical  dis- 
positions of  things  during  a certain  period,  were  not 
adapted  to  things  then  existing,  but  were  adapted  to  a 
distinctive  race  of  beings  to  exist  in  future  and  separ- 
ate conditions. 

The  tenor  of  the  preceding  paragraphs  will  have 
suggested  to  the  reader  the  peculiarities  of  the  carbom 
iferous  formation  when  the  earth  was  covered  with  a 
dense  vegetation,  composed  of  succulent  plants,  inter- 
spersed with  soft  wood  trees,  allied  to  the  pines  and 
palms  of  low  latitudes. 

THE  CARBONIFEROUS  SERIES  LOCATED  ENTIRELY  SEPARATE  FROM 

MAN  IN  TIME  AND  PLACE,  YET  UNITED  WITH  HIM  IN  THE 

DESIGN. 

The  carboniferous  system  of  rocks  contains  material 
that,  more  than  that  in  any  oth^r  formation,  is 
adapted  to  subserve  human  purposes  and  exercise  hu- 
man faculties.  There  lie  the  limestone,  the  most  pro- 
ductive iron-ores,  and  the  coal-measures,  which  are 
almost  a necessary  element  in  human  progress.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  pretends  to  believe  that  the  physical  fea- 
tures of  the  carboniferous  series  was  a development  of 


90 


ANOTHER  EVIDENCE  SEEN  IN 


one  rock  stratum  out  of  another.  The  old  red  sand- 
stone surely  did  not  develop  itself  into  limestone,  nor 
the  coal  into  iron  stone.  Their  proximity  must  have 
occurred  through  the  interposition  of  a Power  that  can 
act  independent  of  the  natural  connection  of  things  in 
time  and  place. 

The  succession  of  the  strata,  however,  is  not  of  so 
much  importance  in  the  argument.  The  adaptation 
of  the  carboniferous  strata  to  an  end,  without  the 
formation  in  which  they  are  deposited,  is  the  main 
point  to  which  we  invite  attention. 

It  is  well  ascertained  that  during  the  period  when 

the  vegetation  which  produced  the  coal-measures  grew 

* 

upon  the  valleys,  and  accumulated  in  the  basins  of  the 
surface,  few  land  animals  existed,  and  those  mostly  of 
the  reptilian  family.  There  are  some  discriminating 
observers  who  would  not  assent  to  the  statement  that 
no  land  animals  but  reptiles  existed  during  this  period, 
yet  no  one  informed  upon  this  subject  will  doubt  but 
that  if  herbivorous  creatures  existed  at  all,  they  existed 
in  small  numbers,  and  in  but  few  localities.  The  fact 
is  exceedingly  remarkable,  that  during  the  existence  of 
the  most  luxuriant  flora  that  ever  covered  portions  of 
the  earth,  there  was  no  corresponding  fauna  to  grow  and 
multiply  upon  these  exhaustless  stores  of  vegetable 
pabulum. 


91 


THE  PEOGBESS  OF  CEEATION. 

Now^  if  this  immense  vegetable  product  had  decayed, 
or  had  it  been  destroyed  and  mingled  with  other  mate- 
rial, as  the  superabundant  vegetable  productions  of  the 
surface  have  been  before  and  since,  indications  of  a 
governing  Mind,  depositing  in  one  series  the  material 
necessary  for  the  inhabitants  of  another,  would  not 
have  been  so  apparent.  But  this  vegetation  was  not 
only  produced  without  corresponding  herbivora  to  con- 
sume it,  but  it  was,  as  we  have  before  noticed,  pre- 
served safe  from  decomposition^  and  separate  from 
admixture^  and  locked  up  in  the  crust  of  the  earth, 
whence  man,  who  alone  can  appropriate  it,  now  ex- 
humes the  hidden  treasure.  Nor  this  alone.  The  de- 
sign is  remarkably  obvious  in  another  point  of  view. 
The  material  of  the  carboniferous  series  is  the  only 
product  of  the  earth  upon  which  human  progress  and 
development  are  greatly  dependent,  which  can  not  be 
produced  upon  the  surface  in  sufficient  abundance,  to 
supply  human  wants.  In  temperate  latitudes,  where 
human  industry  and  advancement  are  secured  by  the 
greatest  variety  of  subsidiary  means — ^where  population 
becomes  dense  owing  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soii 
and  the  facilities  for  manufactures,  the  vegetable  fuel 
of  the  surface  alone  is  not  adequate  to  the  purposes  of 
human  enterprise,  and  of  man^s  best  social  condition. 
The  fuel  product  of  the  surface  must  be  removed  in 


92 


ANOTHER  EVIDENCE  SEEN  IN 


order  to  tlie  purposes  of  cultivation  ; and  tlie  increase 
of  population  in  any  temperate  region^  and  even  in 
new  countries  recently  subjected  to  civilization,  soon 
exhausts  the  supply.’*"  Hence,  from  the  nature  of 
things,  human  energies  could  not  be  developed  in  the 
best  manner,  nor  the  race  advanced  to  the  best  social 
and  moral  position,  without  supplies  of  fuel  hdow  the 
soil,  which  might  supply  the  deficiency  of  surface  fuel. 
Without  this  deposit  of  fuel  below  the  surface,  human 
invention  and  industry  could  not  have  been  fully  stim- 
ulated, the  mineral  resources  of  the  earth  could  not 
have  been  fully  used,  and  mechanic  arts  and  enter- 
prises would  haye  been  sadly  impeded. 

These  considerations,  showing  that  series,  widely  sep- 
arated in  the  physical  progress  of  creation,  are  united 
in  their  adaptations  to  the  wants  of  man,  as  a cultivat- 
ing and  manufacturing  being,  we  hope  may  aid  to  pro- 
duce conviction  that  the  coal-mines  of  the.  carbonifer- 

* As  an  instance  of  the  fact  here  referred  to,  a striking  illustration  is 
presented  in  the  rapid  progress  of  an  agricultural  and  manufacturing  pop- 
ulation in  the  United  States  of  America.  In  the.  State  of  Ohio,  for  in- 
stance, the  whole  area  of  which  was  once  covered  with  a dense  forest, 
the  timber  is  now  becoming  scarce.  Where  once  ten  dollars  an  acre 
were  given  for  removing  the  wood,  ten  would  now  be  given  to  have  it  re- 
stored. And  if  the  immense  coal-beds  which  underlie  the  south-eastern 
portion  of  the  State  did  not  exist,  wood  would  soon  be  exhausted.  In 
such  an  event,  the  rich  and  extended  deposits  of  iron  in  the  State  could 
lot  be  appropriated,  manufacturing  interests  would  be  seriously  damaged, 
and  agricultural  interests  impaired. 


THE  PKOGRESS  OF  CREATION. 


93 


oujS  series  were  designedly  accumulated  in  view  of 
human  wants^  and  in  adaptation  to  fore-determined 
human  characteristics.  Myriads  of  ages  before  man 
was  created^  this  provision^  made  for  his  wants  and 
adapted  to  his  faculties^  was  located  in  form  and  place 
where  it  is  needed.  The  provision  was  likewise  made 
out  of  connection  with  the  ordinary  laws  of  animal 
want  and  supply^  and  the  product  located  in  a separate 
series  from  the  consumer.  Thus  we  recognize  an  In- 
telligent Mind  who  knew  the  end  from  the  beginning, 
who  presided  over  the  physical  and  organic  progress  of 
the  earth,  and  who  adjusted  things  not  always  in  rela- 
tion to  each  other  as  co-existing  entities  ; but  while 
sometimes  they  are  neither  adjacent  to  each  other,  nor 
developed  out  of  each  other,  they  are  always  found  in 
co-relation  to  the  final  end  of  the  whole  scheme. 

The  same  adaptation  is  seen  in  the  ores  deposited 
in  series  of  rocks  anterior  to  the  existence  of  man. 
There  were  no  co-existing  species  of  things  whose  uses 
were  subserved  by  the  ore-bearing  strata.  The  exertion 
of  power  by  which  they  were  located  was  a useless 
expenditure  of  force,  unless  that  power  was  expended 
in  view  of  the  future  when  man  should  exist  upon  the 
earth.  The  ore  deposits,  in  situ^  have  no  end  in  con- 
nection with  organized  beings  if  man  does  not  appro- 
priate them  to  his  own  uses.  It  may  be  said  that 


94 


ANOTHER  EVIDENCE  SEEN  IN 


metallic  constituents  are  valuable  parts  of  some  or- 
ganic structures,  but  tbis  fact  bas  no  connection  witn 
tbe  masses  of  ore  located  in  veins  and  in  sedimentary- 
deposits.  These,  like  tbe  coal-measures,  bave  supplied 
ingredients  for  soils,  and  thus  subserved  important 
structural  purposes,  while  yet  tbe  immense  masses  of 
tbe  deposits  being  en  masse^  are  thereby  of  precious 
utility  as  an  adapted  means  of  human  progress.  In 
tbe  economy  of  nature  as  a whole,  these  deposits  are 
arranged  as  evidently  in  adaptation  to  human  facul- 
ties as  the  eye  or  the  ear  is  adapted  to  the  ends  con- 
templated in  fitting  the  faculties  of  the  body  to  ex- 
ternal nature.  The  magnetic  properties  of  iron,  also, 
have  uses  and  adaptations  which  human  faculties  alone 
can  appreciate — uses  without  which  the  products  of 
the  earth,  indigenous  in  different  climes,  could  not  be 
rendered  subservient  to  human  enterprises,  or  to  the 
general  benefit  of  the  human  races.  Civilization  would 
not  become  general,  nor  would  all  the  resources  of  dif- 
ferent latitudes  and  soils  be  developed,  if  th*e  magnetic 
afl&nity  did  not  exist  to  aid  the  progress  of  human 
industry  and  human  enterprise,  by  guiding  men  in 
their  efforts  to  supply  the  demand  in  one  region  of  the 
earth  for  the  productions  of  another.  The  magnetic 
polarity  was  constituted  so  long  ago  as  the  present 
form  and  motions  of  the  earth  were  established.  It 


THE  PKOGHESS  OF  CKEATION. 


95 


was  laid  in  the  foundation^  structure^  and  laws  of  the 
physical  universe  ; yet  the  peculiar  affinity  by  which  the 
needle  trembles  to  the  pole  had  little  or  no  connection 
with  the  faculties  or  the  well-being  of  any  creature, 
until  the  progressive  development  of  the  human  mind 
brought  out  its  cardinal  adaptations  to  civil  divisions 
of  the  soil,  and  to  the  safe  transit  of  the  ocean. 

Similar  views  in  relation  to  the  location  of  common 
salt,  and  other  ingredients  of  early  formations  which 
find  adapted  uses  in  the  animal  economy  of  the  present 
series,  might  be  presented.  The  cases  already  adduced 
are  sufficient  to  define  the  course  of  argument,  and  to 
authorize  the  statement  that  there  are  evidences  in  the 
process  of  creation,  that  things  united  in  the  final 
design  are  not  always  connected  in  development  the 
one  with  the  other  ; but  that  things  disparted  from  each 
other,  in  time  and  in  formation,  are  connected  in  the 
general  plan  and  final  end  : thus  evidencing  the  control 
of  the  Supreme  Being,  who  knows  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  and  uses  natural  forces  and  laws  as  instru- 
mentalities in  accomplishing  the  great  scheme  by  which 
the  earth  was  fitted  for  the  residence  of  man 


CHAPTEE  VII. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY  WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY 
LAW,  OR  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  ONE  SPECIES  OUT  OF  AN- 
OTHER. 


On  tlie  supposition  that  creation  has  advanced  by 
the  development  of  a higher  species  from  a preceding 
lower  one,  let  us  look  a moment  at  some  difficulties 
which  intervene  between  the  initiation  and  the  consum- 
mation of  the  line  of  progress. 


THIS  THEORY  MUST  ASSUME  THAT  ALL  DESIGN  AND  ADAPTATION 
IN  THE  ORGANIC  WORLD  WAS  LATENT  IN  THE  FIRST  CEIL. 

If  all  organic  life  has  been  developed  consecutively 
upward  from  a first  nucleated  cell,  or  from  any  other 
form  of  primal  germ,  then  in  that  first  ovum  the  whole 
organic  creation  was  contained  in  embryo.  Every 
germ  contains  all  the  characteristics  which  can  be  de- 
veloped out  of  it.^  Conditions  could  not  develop,  out 
of  the  primal  egg,  forms^the  seeds  of  which  were  never 
in  it.  The  seed  and  the  power  were  latent  there,  and 

/ / 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY,  ETC.  97 

needed  only  development  to  exhibit  in  succession  all 
the  varieties  of  living  beings.  And  not  only  this,  but 
every  primal  ovum,  from  the  first  one  until  now,  has 
contained  a world  of  organic  being  in  itself.  If  it  be 
said  that  the  egg-cell  of  a certain  animalcule  and  of 
man  are  the  same  in  form,'^  while  the  product  of  the 
one  is  a mote,  and  of  the  other  a mammal — ^if  the 
statement  be  designed  to  prove  any  thing  in  connection 
with  the  theory  of  development,  it  must  be,  at  least, 
that  the  essential  germs  of  higher  species  are  still  the 
same  as  those  of  lower  or  the  lowest  species,  and  that 
the  difference  of  the  product  depends  upon  difference 
of  time  and  upon  conditions  in  gestation.  But  if  all 
things  have  been  developed  out  of  one  prime  nucleus, 
then  the  various  conditions  of  gestation,  as  well  as  the 
product  of  gestation,  proceeded  from  the  same  nucleus. 
The  conditions  of  gestation  are  the  conditions  of  the 
pai^nt ; and  the  parent,  with  all  her  peculiar  powers, 
was  developed  out  of  the  pristine  germ.  Whether, 
therefore,  gestation  stops  short  with  the  animalcule,  or 
advances  to  the  product  of  a mammal,  we  see  not  but 
that,  according  to  the  theory,  every  cell  has  in  it*  every 

* “An  animalcule — ^the  volvox  globator — ^has  exactly  the  form  of  the 
germ,  which,  after  passing  through  a long  foetal  progress,  becomes  a 
complex  mammifer  of  the  highest  class.” — Vest,  of  the  History  of  Ore* 
ation^  p.  185. 

h 


98  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEOKY 

variety  of  life^  and  every  variety  of  maternal  condition. 
If  this  is  not  true,  it  is  because  the  theory  in  question 
is  not  true.  The  theory  assumes  a cellular  nucleus  for 
creation,  , and  whether  primal  cells  be  uniform  or  multi- 
form— if  from  one  all  organic  creation  has  been  devel- 
oped— and  if  external  form  be  evidence  of  identity  in 
nature,  then  from  the  cell  of  the  volvox  globator  dif- 
ferent conditions  would  develop  all  species  of  animated 
beings  below  man,  from  the  globator  up  to  man. 

But  further  than  this,  and  apart  from  conditions  as 
means  of  development,  there  are,  in  the  properties  and 
substance  of  the  cell  itself,  clear  manifestations  of 
design  to  be  accounted  for.  If  all  vegetable  and 
animal  life  expanded  from  a first  nucleus,  then  vege- 
table pabulum  in  quantity  and  quality  is  adjusted  to 
the  animal  digestive  apparatus.  These  adjustments 
are  various  and  intricate,  and  must  have  existed  to- 
gether in  the  first  cell.  And  after  the  beginning,  all 
along  the  line  of  advancing  life,  there  are  various  new 
adjustments  of  sexes  and  other  inter-animal  adapta- 
tions, which  occur  long  subsequent  to  the  time  when 
the  ovum  treasure  bursts  into  the  lowest  link  of  life. 
At  the  points  where  the  new  sexual  adjustments  began, 
two  individuals^  hotli  different  in  species  from  their 
parent^  and  both  sexually  adjusted  to  each  other ^ must 
have  been  developed  at  onoe  ; or  the  mother  must  have 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CEEATION  BY  LAW.  99 


been  produced  from  a parent  different  from  herself^  and 
at  the  same  time  containing  in  heself  sexual  ova,  the 
product  of  which  was  to  be  different  from  the  parent  in 
which  were  developed  both  the  mother  and  the  ova. 
Now,  assuming  that  design  implies  a designer,  does  it 
relieve  the  difficulty,  or  help  the  reason  of  the  case 
in  any  way,  to  say  that  Grod,  or  nature,  imparted  these 
properties  and  laws  of  adaptation  to  the  nuclei  in  the 
primal  cells  of  things,  and  so  constituted  them,  that 
they  would  remain  latent  until  adapted  conditions 
should  develop  their^ properties  ? Is  not  the  supposi- 
tion more  rational,  that  the  seeds  of  species  were  pro- 
duced with  the  conditions  that  were  adapted  to  develop 
and  sustain  the  parents  and  the  progeny  ? 

Again  : If  it  be  granted  that  the  chain  of  organic 
life,  with  all  its  balanced  properties  and  numerous  ad- 
justments, proceeded  upward  from  a nucleated  cell, 
what  law  constituted  and  concentrated  all  the  balanced 
and  adjusted  properties  of  things  in  that  one  primal 
granule  ? Nature  must  have  gone  through  a synthetic 
process,  and  combined  all  life  m the  seed,  before  she 
began  the  analytic  process  to  develop  all  life  /ro?n  the 
seed.  But  did  it  not  require  as  much  intelligence  and 
as  many  interpositions  of  the  Divine  Mind  to  create,  or 
even  to  select  and  adjust,  the  properties  in  the  first 
cell,  so  that  the  various  species  of  things  could  be  de- 


100  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY 

veloped  out  of  it,  as  to  create  and  adjust  the  same 
number  of  species  at  the  times  in  which  they  actually 
began  to  exist  ? We  have  shown,  we  think,  that  Grod 
controlled  and  acted  directly,  in  applying  the  forces 
which  produced  the  separate  and  successive  conditions 
of  the  earth  ; but  if  He  acts  directly  in  producing,  by 
the  instrumentality  of  physical  forces,  the  material  con- 
ditions necessary  to  sustain  the  different  species  of 
things,  is  it  not  a most  rational  analogy  to  suppose 
that  the  higher  Divine  prerogative  of  imparting  life 
properties  to  the  new  species  thefhselves  was  effected 
by  a present  act  of  Divine  Power  ? Would  not  the 
Divine  Author  of  both  physical  conditions  and  organic 
forms  act  as  immediately  in  producing  new  species  of 
life  as  in  producing  new  conditions  in  which  life  was  to 
be  developed  ? 

ADJUSTMENT  BY  DIVINE  POWER  NECESSARY  IN  ORDER  TO  DEVELOP 
LATENT  PROPERTIES  INTO  LIFE-FORCES. 

But,  furthermore  : If  it  were  admitted  that  the  or- 
ganic properties  of  things  were  latent  in  matter,  it  still 
requires  the  adjustment  of  the  different  elements  in 
which  they  inhere  to  develop  these  properties.  Adjust- 
ment in  time,  place,  and  measure,  are  necessary  to 
develop  properties  into  specific  forces,  whether  they  be 
physical  or  life  forces.  The  Creator,  then,  in  the  orig- 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW.  101 


ination  of  each  species^  must  make  a^'new  adjustment 
of  things^  by  which  the  specific  forces  and  forms  of 
organized  beings  are  produced ; so  that  the  new  de- 
velopment of  organic  forces,  and  the  institution  of  new 
organic  laws  and  instincts,  are  a sine  qua  non  in  the 
production  of  each  new  species  which  possesses  dis- 
tinctive characteristics. 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  MOST  LIVING  SPECIES  AT  SEVERAL  POINTS  IN 

CREATIVE  PROGRESS  NOT  CONSISTENT  WITH  THE  DEVELOPMENT 

THEORY. 

Again  : There  are  distinct  and  decisive  interruptions 
in  the  line  of  creative  advance.  In  two  or  three  in- 
stances, at  least,  the  catastrophes  which  shattered  the 
fabric  of  the  eartVs  crust  changed  the  position  of  the 
sea  and  land,  and  altered  the  temperature  from  torrid 
to  frigid  degrees,  destroyed  almost,  if  not  totally,  the 
living  species  of  things.  But  few  living  creatures  sur- 
vived the  catastrophe  which  preceded  the  old  red  sand- 
stone ; and  it  is  really  doubtful  whether  any — if  we 
except  a few  low  mollusks — survived  the  devastating 
changes  which  affected  the  air,  earth  and  sea,  when  the 
drift  was  deposited  ; yet,  after  the  drift,  the  four  great 
orders  of  animal  life  start  at  oilce  into  new  forms.  It 
is  absolutely  certain,  to  our  own  mind  at  least,  that 
after  this  period  there  was  no  gradual  development 


102  DIFFICULTIES  OFANY  THEORY 

from  the  lower  species  up  again  to  the  point  where  the 
catastrophe  found  and  destroyed  preceding  species. 
Were  this  the  case,  we  should  certainly  find  traces  of 
development  from  mollusks  to  mammals  subsequent  to 
the  drift.  But  instead  of  this,  well-ascertained  facts 
certify  us  that  the  genera  of  the  new  animal  families 
start  at  points  equal  to,  or  in  advance  of,  old  forms  ; 
and  various  species  commence  at  once,  and  in  different 
portions  of  the  globe. 

Now,  if  it  be  said  that  the  new  conditions  were 
more  favorable  to  higher  forms,  this  undoubtedly  is 
true  ; but  then,  instead  of  developing  something  better 
out  of.  lower  forms,  they  would  be  less  favorable  to  old 
existing  forms,  and,  according  to  laWj  so  soon  as  the 
surface-changes  occurred,  degeneration^  and  not  ad- 
vancOj  in  old  species,  would  be  the  results. 

Besides,  as  former  species  were  destroyed  upon  land 
and  mostly  in  the  waters,  there  were  no  intermediate 
forms  for  the  advanced  species  to  spring  from.  If  one 
species  was  developed  out  of  any  other,  the  highest 
must  have  been  developed  out  of  the  lowest,  without 
graduated,  intervening  links  from  the  lowest  upward. 
This  supposition  is  monstrous,  and,  we  presume,  will 
not  be  defended  by  any  one. 

These  are  grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  devel- 
opment theory.  The  law  is  against  development  hy 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW.  103 


law ; and  the  facts  seem  incompatible  with  this 
hypothesis  of  creation. 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  THEORY  IS  PANTHEISTIC,  AND  GIVES  AN 
INTELLIGENT  LAW-SOUL  TO  ALL  WORLDS. 

Again  : In  the  economy  of  the  solar  system  different 
bodies  are  in  different  stages  of  progress  (and  this  is 
probably  true  throughout  the  physical  universe)  ; and 
as  it  is  supposed  by  the  most  recent  writers  friendly  to 
the  development  theory^  that  the  same  general  modes 
and  faculties  of  life  exist  in  other  bodies  which  obtain 
in  our  own  planet,  then  those  life-chains  must  be  in 
different  stages  of  - progress,  and,  consequently,  there 
must  have  been  different  stages  of  beginning  in  differ- 
ent planets.  There  must,  therefore,  be  several  causes 
^f  beginning  in  different  planets,  or  one  Supreme 
Cause  over  the  whole.  But  if  the  forces  of  nature  be- 
gin to  operate  at  different  periods,  and  the  laws  of  na- 
ture are  only  the  mode  and  measure  of  the  forces,  how 
can  the  laws  of  nature,  or  the  forces  of  nature,  be  the 
cause  of  the  beginnings  unless  force  or  motion  be  self- 
caused  ? Whenever  this  class  of  writers,  therefore, 
point  to  the  forces  or  laws  of  matter,  and  say  these 
were  efficient  in  any  creative  act,  they  but  renew  the 
old  pantheistic  philosophy,  which  gives  a material  soul 
to  each  world,  instead  of  a Sovereign,  Intelligent  Mind 


104  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY 

to  the  Universe — a philosophy  which  endows  material 
forces  with  intelligence^  instead  of  assuming  an  Intelli- 
gence above  natural  force.  The  old  Academy,  long 
before  the  era  of  the  light  which  Jesus  brought  into 
the  world,  reached  this  Ultima  Thule  of  the  undevout 
reason  ; and  Plato,  the  greatest  of  the  ancients,  at- 
tained to  higher  knowledge,  ahd  believed  in  the  Beauti- 
ful, True,  and  Good,  as  a supreme,  self-moving,  and  all- 
moving  Unity — the  Parent  and  the  President  of  the 
Universe. 

THE  ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  THEORY  INCONSISTENT  WITH  ITS 
STATEMENT. 

¥ 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  that  these  alleged  difficul- 
ties, so  far  as  they  have  force,  are  not  based  upon  a 
correct  statement  of  the  theory  of  creation  by  law. 
We  are  aware  that  different  writers  present  different 
aspects  of  the  development  theory.  Our  difficulties 
lie  directly  against  the  ablest  exposition  of  that  theory 
which  has  been  given  to  the  public  in  our  times.  The 

Vestiges  of  the  History  of  Oreatioff^ — to  which  we 
refer — is  not,  as  we  suppose,  consistent  with  itself; 
and  certainly  it  is  not  with  some  of  the  supposed  phe- 
nomena by  which  it  is  illustrated.  The  Acarus  which 
Mr.  Crosse  is  said  to  have  created  by  law  is  one  of  the 
Articulata,  and  was  produced,  it  is  said,  immediately 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW.  105 


without  passing  from  lower  species  up  to  its  place  in 
the  life-chain  of  this  theory.  This  is  quite  in  advance 
of  the  point  where  they  assume  that  the  Creator  began 
his  work.  If  Mr.  Crosse  could  begin  with  the  Articu- 
lata^  and  create  an  Acarus  which  had  no  parent^  why 
may  not  the  Divine  Power  accomplish  as  much  ? If 
Mr.  Crosse  can  form  both  germ  and  insect,  by  the  same 
process,  wKy  may  not  Divine  Power  form  both  germ 
and  mammifer  ? (We  do  not  wish  to  be  irreverent.) 
But  how  is  the  achievement  of  Mr.  Crosse  consistent 
with  the  foundation-principle  of  the  theory,  that  the 
lowest  species  of  all  is  the  parent  of  all — that  all  suc- 
ceeding species  after  the  lowest  polype  are  developed 
out  of  a preceding  one  ? Is  it  said  that  the  conditions 
fitted  to  the  production  of  an  Acarus  were  furnished  ? 
But  the  theory  does  not  assume  that  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions which  produced  man  produced  him  from  inor- 
ganic matter,  but  from  a preceding  species  ; and  so 
with  other  species  down  to  the  first.  Undoubtedly,'^ 
says  the  author  of  the  ^Westiges,"  what  we  ordi- 
narily see  of  nature  is  calculated  to  impress  a convic- 
tion that  each  species  invariably  produces  its  like" — 
but — I suggest  as  an  hypothesis  already  countenanced 
by  much  that  is  ascertained,  and  likely  to  be  further 
sanctioned  by  much  that  remains  to  be  known,  that 

the  first  step  was  an  advance  under  favor  of  peculiar  ’ 

6^ 


106  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY 

conditions  from  the  simplest  forms  of  being  to  the  next 
more  complicated^  and  this  through  the  medium  of  the 
ordinary  process  of  generation!^ 

A GOD  OF  LAW  BUT  NOT  OF  LIFE. 

Again  : While  a Creator  is  spoken  of  as  a first  cause 
of  law^  yet  it  is  clearly  stated^  in  pantheistic  phrase, 
that  this  author  can  not  separate  nature  from  God 
himself.^'  He  finds  no  God  in  any  creative  act,  ex- 
cept the  first  one,  which  occurred  long  anterior  to  the 
creation  of  life  upon  the  earth.  He  finds  no  God  in 
providence  : All  things  are  created,  developed,  and  con- 
trolled by  law,  as  the  efficient  agent  in  all  terrene  pro- 
gress. The  author  does  separate  God  from  nature,  and 
yet  he  says  he  can  not  separate  God  from  nature.^^ 
He  must  then  believe  that  God  acted  once,  and  then 
fell  asleep,''f  or  that  the  laws  of  nature  were  God  in 
the  beginning  and  law  in  the  process  of  creation.  It 
may  be  that  this  author  will  allow  a Divine  act  in  the 

* Finding  the  Edinburg  Reviewer  speaking  of  the  whole  works  of 
Deity  as  “vulgar  nature,”  I feel  that  the  piety  which  such  an  idea  ex- 
presses to  my  senses  is  only  impiety  to  me,  who  can  not  separate  nature 
from  God  himself;  but  it  is  not  necessarily  so  to  him,  whose  education 
has  given  him  peculiar  and,  as  I think,  erroneous  conceptions  of  this 
subject. — Seq.  to  Vestiges. 

f “Father  fell  asleep,”  instead  of  “fathers,”  would  be  a better  sense  of 
2 Pet.  iii.  4 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CEEATION  BY  LAW.  107 


beginning,  both  of  law  and  life  , «till  the  main  import 
of  the  book  derives  life  from  physical  agencies. 

THE  MORAL  SENSE  OF  THE  AUTHOR  RELUCTATES  AGAINST  THE 
CONSEQUENCES  OF  HIS  THEORY. 

In  the  last  paragraph  of  the  Explanations  by  the 
author  of  the  Vestiges/^  the  moral  sense  and  the 
intelligence  of  the  writer  are  both  apparent.  After 
speaking  in  words  that  a fine  intellect  only  can  use,  of 
man,  his  power  to  do  and  to  endure,  his  faculties  and 
affections,  his  graces  and  his  aspirations,  the  thought 
legitimate  to  his  theory  comes  out  at  last,  and  he  ejac- 
ulates in  relation  to  the  subject  of  his  thought,  Gone  ! 
lost  ! hushed  in  the  stillness  of  a mightier  death  than 
has  hitherto  been  thought  of  From  the  thought 

k 

* At  the  close  of  the  Augustan  age,  when  eclecticism  had  done  its  best 
in  separating  the  good  from  all  systems  of  philosophy,  still  the  reason, 
unassisted  by  Revelation,  wandered  in  unsatisfied  perplexity  in  search  of 
one  personal  God,  and  of  the  greatest  good.  The  experiences  of  Clement 
of  Rome,  before  his  mind  rested  upon  Christ,  were  a counterpart  to  those 
of  this  author. 

“ I,  Clement,  was  able  to  pass  my  first  years  in  a moral  course,  since 
the  thoughts  that  followed  me  from  childhood  called  me  ofi*  from  pleasure 
to  sorrow  and  exertion ; for  there  dwelt  in  me — I know  not  whence  it 
came — ^the  thoughts  which  reminded  me  frequently  of  death,  that  after 
death  I should  not  be,  and  then  no  one  would  think  of  me,  for  eternity 
would  involve  all  things  in  oblivion.  When  did  the  world  begin,  and 
what  was  there  before  the  world  ? Was  it  from  eternity  ? Then  it  would 
last  to  eternity.  If  it  was  brought  into  existence,  then  also  it  would  at 


108  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEOKY 


of  this  mightier  death^^  the  soul  of  the  author  seems 
to  shrink^  and  he  adds^  But  yet  the  faith  may  not 
be  shaken  ; that  that  which  has  been  endowed  with 
the  power  of  godlike  thought^  and  allowed  to  come  into 
communion  with  its  Eternal  Author^  can  not  be  truly 
lost.  The  vital  flame  which  proceeded  from  Him  at 
first  returns  to  him  in  our  perfected  form  at  last^  bear- 
ing with  it  all  good  and  lovely  things^  and  making  of 
all  the  far-extending  past  but  one  intense  present^  glo- 
rious and  everlasting/^  What  means  this — man  in 
'communion  with  his  Eternal  Author  Does  it  mean 
man  in  communion  with  law  According  to  the 
theory,  God  is  not  the  author  of  man  in  any  sense,  as 
much  as  he  is  author  of  the  lowest  germ  of  animal 
life.  Endowed  with  the  power  of  godlike  thought/^ 
What  means  this  ? Eeason,  according  to  the  author, 
is  the  jjroduct  of  material  laws.  Is  God^s  thought  like 
this  ? And  surely,  if  reason  is  the  result  of  organic 
forces,  it  will  be  lost  when  that  organism  is  destroyed. 

That  the  moral  nature  of  the  author,  feeling  the  in- 

some  time  perish.  And  what  would  it  be  again  after  its  dissolution,  un- 
less, perhaps,  the  stillness  of  death  and  oblivion  (that  comfortless  idea, 
which  is  found  in  several  of  the  Oriental  systems  of  religion,  that  the 
changing  forms  of  individual  existence  will  at  last  be  dissolved  into  an 
unconscious  All — ^thus  universal  death  will  be  the  ultimate  result — all  ex- 
istence will  become  an  unreal  specter),  and,  perhaps,  something  may  then 
be  which  now  I can  not  conceive  of.” 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW.  109 

jury  inflicted  upon  it^  has  caused  him  to  ejaculate  sen- 
tences inconsistent  with  his  cherished  theory^  is  one  of 
the  strongest  evidences  that  that  theory  is  not  true. 
After  uttering  the  passage^  The  faith  may  not  he 
shaken^  that  that  which  has  been  endowed  by  the  god- 
like power  of  thought^  and  allowed  to  come  into  com- 
munion with  its  Eternal  Author,  can  not  be  truly  lost/^ 
the  author  closes  by  giving  the  import  of  this  reverent 
language  as  interpreted  by  his  theory,  The  vital 
flame  which  proceeded  from  Him  at  first  returns  to 
Him  in  our  perfected  form  at  last/^  What  means  this 
vital  flame  T'  Does  it  refer  to  the  ^^fire  mist,'^  when 
our  system  first  took  on  the  rule  of  law,  which,  after 
having  developed  itself  in  material  combinations, 
thence,  through*  organic  structures,  finally  produced  the 
form  perfect  of  man  ? or  does  it  refer  to  the  vitality  of 
the  first  organic  germ  which  passes  through  each  suc- 
ceeding species  up  to  the  last  ? This  primal  flame, 
whatever  it  may  be,  returns  in  the  forms  of  all  men ; 
and  not  only  this,  but  the  vital  chain,  from  first  to  last, 
returns,  making  of  all  the  far-extending  past  but  one 
intense  present/'  It  is,  we  think,  perfectly  apparent 
that  the  introduction  of  moral  conceptions  into  this 
theory  is  arrant  nonsense,  or  else  it  makes  nonsense  of 
the  theory  itself. 


110  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY 

A GOD  WITHOUT  INTELLIGENCE  CREATED  INTELLIGENCE. 

But  let  US  take  another  view  of  the  difficulties  of 
modern  materialism.  When  it  is  said,  God  can  not 
he  separated  from  nature/'  while  at  the  same  time  He 
is  aflflrmed  to  he  the  author  and  sustainer  of  nature/' 
the  import  can  not  he  that  God  has  exercised  any 
personal  act  of  creation  or  control  since  gravitation 
first  affected  the  material  which  formed  our  system ; 
or,  if  the  theory  he  confined  to  the  earth,  then  no  creat- 
ive act  has  been  put  forth  hy  the  Maker  since  the 
first  organic  cell  was  formed,  and  that  was  not  formed 
hy  the  Creator,  hut  hy  law.  God  is  in  nature,  and  in- 
separable from  nature,  and  sustains  nature  ; hence  the 
complement  of  natural  phenomena,  organic  and  inor- 
ganic, is  all  the  personality  which  belongs  to  the  God 
of  this  theory.  Let  us  see  the  character  of  God  as  thus 
conceived : — 

If  God  is  inseparable  from  nature  now.  He  was  in- 
separable from  nature  at  all  periods  of  the  past : then 
what  follows  ? Why  this  ; Eeason  is  a product  of  ma- 
terial development : then,  before  the  existence  of  or- 
ganic forms,  there  was  no  reason  in  existence  ; none,  at 
least,  in  anywise  connected  with  our  planet.  Intelli- 
gence was  developed  from  lower  susceptibilities  to 


WHICH  ASSUMES  CREATION  BY  LAW.  Ill 

higher  instincts^  and  thence  up  to  the  human  mind. 
Then^  as  a sequent  of  this  doctrine,  at  early  periods 
of  creative  progress  by  law,  intelligence  did  not  exist ; 
and  if  Grod  can  not  be  separated  from  nature,  before 
nature  produced  intelligence,  there  was  no  intelligent 
God.  The  highest  nature  in  existence  is  the  highest 
being  belonging  to  the  organic  kingdoms  at  any  par» 
ticular  period  in  the  history  of  creation.  During  the 
saurian  age  the  lizard  mind  was  the  highest  in  exist- 
ence ; and  if  there  be  nothing  above  and  separate  from 
nature,  then  thei  fish-lizard-god  was  for  the  time  the 
supreme  being  on  the  earth ; or,  at  least,  the  supremest 
being  that  acted  in  connection  with  the  earth. 

But  is  it.  said,  that  not  only  the  laws  and  beings  of 
this  earth,  but  the  laws  and  beings  of  our  whole  sys- 
tem are  included  in  the  idea  ; and  that,  with  this  en- 
larged conception,  God  can  not  be  separated  from 
nature.  Now,  admitting  the  conception  to  be  ^ex- 
panded, then,  if  God  can  not  be  separated  from  nature. 
He  is  in  different  states  of  progress  or  development  in 
different  parts  of  the  universe.  God  is  in  different 
stages  of  development  in  the  solar  system  at  the  same 
time  ; and  God  and  nature  have  together  gone  through 
different  stages  of  development.  This  conclusion  is  the 
highest  and  best  result  of  the  hypothesis. 


112  DIFFICULTIES  OF  ANY  THEORY,  ETC. 


INSTEAD  OF  GOD  CREATING  NATURE, NATURE  CREATES  GOD. 

The  legitimate  ultimatum  of  this  theory  is,  that  Di- 
vine interposition  being  out  of  the  question,  and  as  the 
laws  of  nature  are  still  developing  organized  beings  into 
higher  species,  instead  of  man,  as  an  individual  return- 
ing to  his  Author  as  a vital  flame,  or  in  any  other  form, 
he  will  turn  into  something  different  in  species  from 
the  present  man.  The  laws  of  natural  development^^ 
will  produce  a being  in  advance  of  man ; and  so  for- 
ward, the  latter  product  will  rise  above  previous  ones, 
until  the  laws  of  nature  will  create  a god^  instead  of 
God  creating  nature.  So  far  as  the  theory  is  compre- 
hensible these  results  are  legitimate — ^logical  products 
of  the  hypothesis  of  a progressive  development  of  the 
creation  by  law. 

It  is  a relief  to  turn  away  from  the  inferences  and 
sequents  connected  with  such  theories,  and  seek  for 
more  satisfactory  conclusions  and  a truer  hypothesis.'^ 

* See  Excursus  on  Hypotheses,  especially  the  hypothesis  of  Pre-exist- 
enc6,  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


CREATION  AND  CONTROL  BY  DIVINE  AGENCY. — SUSTEN- 
ATION  AND  GOVERNMENT  BY  LAW. 

A BETTER  HYPOTHESIS. 

We  propound  now,  as  we  think,  a better  authenti- 
cated hypothesis  than  that  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering— one  more  consistent  with  the  attributes  of 
God,  the  faculties  of  man,  and  the  facts  of  creative 
history. 

Observing  the  species  of  fossil  and  living  beings  as 
they  have  appeared  in  succession,  we  learn  that  the 
faculties  and  forms  of  created  things  have  advanced, 
not  by  graduation  into  each  other,  but  by  species  spe- 
cifically separated  from  each  other  in  their  inherent  life 
properties,  and  in  their  relation  to  other  things. 

We  place,  then,  an  active  Supreme  Mind  over  the 
whole  plan  of  progress,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  ad- 
justing the  position  of  things,  developing  their  proper- 
ties, and  establishing  their  laws.  We  make  the  whole 
economy  of  creation  upon  our  globe  one  design;  then 


114 


CREATION  AND  CONTROL 


the  different  advances  in  the  process  are  marks  of  cre- 
ative power  and  wisdom,  proceeding  from  the  beginning 
to  the  final  consummation.  The  mind  which  acted  in 
the  beginning  contemplated  the  end,  and  worked  to 
that  end  by  creation,  adjustment,  and  control,  through 
the  whole  life  history  of  the  past.'*^  The  final  end  is 
the  object  of  the  first  act  of  creation  as  much  as  of  any 
other  act  in  the  series  ; and  the  character  of  the  end 
contemplated  from  the  beginning  is  testimony  for  the 
immutability  and  for  the  moral  attributes  of  God.f 
If,  millions  or  myriads  of  ages  in  the  past,  when  life 
first  began,  the  end  in  view  of  the  Divine  mind  was  the 
same  which  is  now  in  process  of  accomplishment,  then 
God  is  one  and  immutable.  If  the  chain  of  progress 

* Humboldt  says  in  his  introduction  to  the  third  volume  of  “ Cosmos,” 
that  “ while  Aristotle  teaches  men  to  investigate  generalities,  in  the  par- 
ticulars of  perceptible  unities,  by  the  force  of  reflective  reason,  he  always 
includes  the  whole  of  nature^  and  the  internal  connection,  not  only  of 
forces,  but  also  of  organic  forms.  In  his  book  on  the  parts  (organs)  of 
animals,  he  clearly  intimates  his  belief  that  throughout  all  animated 
beings  there  is  a scale  of  gradation,  in  which  they  ascend  from  lower  to 
higher  forms.” 

f “To  study  the  succession  of  animals  in  time,  and  their  distribution 
in  space,  is  to  become  acquainted  with  the  ideas  of  Grod  himself.  Now, 
if  the  succession  of  created  beings  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  is  the  re» 
alization  of  an  infinitely  wise  plan,  it  follows  that  there  must  be  a neces- 
sary relation  between  the  races  of  animals  and  the  epoch  at  which  they 
appear.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  in  order  to  comprehend  creation,  that 
we  combine  the  study  of  extinct  species  with  that  of  those  now  living, 
since  one  is  the  natural  complement  of  the  other.” — AaASSiz  and  G-OULd’s 
Prin.  Zoology,  chap.  xiv.  sec.  2. 


BY  DIVINE  AGENCY. 


115 


rises  from  lower  to  higher  forms,  and  thus  reaches  a final 
intelligent  and  moral  consummation,  then  the  process 
stands  as  means  of  accomplishment  to  the  end,  and 
God  was  the  same  wise  and  benevolent  Being  when 
saurians  ruled  the  earth  that  He  is  now  when  man  is 
monarch  of  the  animated  kingdom.  All  the  forces  of 
matter,  and  all  the  laws  of  nature,  when  established 
by  Divine  agency,  perform  their  offices  so  long  as  their 
subjects  exist.  But  the  center  of  every  new  species  of 
life,  the  new  forces  and  adaptations  which  each  new 
species  exhibits,  these  were  adjusted  by  Divine  wisdom, 
and  the  new  life-center  itself  was  the  immediate  work- 
manship of  God.  We  assume,  then,  that  every  new 
condition  of  the  earth,  from  the  first  creation  of  matter 
and  property  upward,  was  designed  and  produced  by 
Divine  energy,  acting  by  the  power  of  natural  forces, 
and  that  every  species  having  new  properties  was,  in  its 
origin,  an  immediate  product  of  Divine  power,  the 
whole  being  sustained  and  governed  by  appropriate  laws. 

Let  us  see  whether  the  ascertained  facts  will  not 
- take  form  and  relation  under  this  statement. 

PROGRESS  BEGINS  IN  TIME. 

The  organic  creation  begins  in  time,  and  advances 
upward.  If  nature  had  exhibited  one  continued  suc- 
cession of  like  species,  with  only  those  varieties  which 


116 


CREATION  AND  CONTROL 


are  produced  by  difference  of  climate,  then  the  human 
mind,  without  a revelation,  might  find  difficulty  in 
separating  Grod,  as  a personal  Being,  from  nature  and 
her  laws.  The  philosophical  materialist  might  say. 
Nature  is  immutable  ; all  things  have  continued  the 
same  from  the  beginning.  Immutability  is  an  attri- 
bute of  nature,  and  it  is  likewise  an  attribute  of  God. 
The  past  and  the  present,  both  of  nature  and  of  God, 
are  the  same.  Who,  then,  can  separate  God  and  na- 
ture, when  both  the  natural  and  the  Divine  are  change- 
less and  eternal  But  when  it  is  proved  that  change 
is  the  order  of  nature — not  change  marked  by  same- 
ness, but  by  progress  ; that  there  has  been  upon  our 
earth,  and  within  the  limits  of  time  that  may  be  com- 
puted, a Jbeginning  and  a progress,  both  of  the  inorgan- 
ic and  organic  realms  of  natm*e  ; then,  unless  God  him- 
self had  a beginning  and  a process  of  development  in 
nature.  He  is  the  author,  and  not  the  complement,  of 
natural  phenomena.  And  as  the  first  step  in  the  pro- 
cess had  a design  in  itself,  and  a designed  cpnnection 
with  the  final  end,  then  the  inference  is  legitimate  that 
a supreme  Designer  was  before  and  above  organic  na- 
ture. And  if  there  be  design  in  first  things,  as  well  as 
last,  and  through  the  whole,  then  mind  is  above  mat- 
ter, and  plan  before  organization. 

* 2 Peter,  iii.  4. 


BY  DIVINE  AGENCY. 


117 


THE  SUPREME  BEING  ACTIVE  IN  THE  PLAN  OF  PROGRESS. 

Then  again  : If  Grod  exists  He  is  active.  He  is  ever 
active  as  a supreme  mental  and  moral  Being.  The 
negative  of  this^  or  the  supposition  that  Divine  agency 
and  control  ceased  with  the  first  creative  act,  would 
imply  that  there  is  no  Grod.  But  if  God  is  an  ever-act- 
ive  Being,  He  would  act  after  as  well  as  in  the  first 
creation.  But  if  all  things  had  been  created  at  once — 
created  perfect  and  immutable  in  themselves,  and  thus 
placed  under  immutable  laws,  there  would  have  been 
no  possibility  of  Divine  activity  subsequent  to  the  be- 
ginning ; therefore,  the  first  creation  of  things  in  a 
lower  condition,  from  which  a life-giving  and  a law- 
controlling God  might  advance  them  to  higher  order 
and  beauty,  and  upon  which,  as  a crowning  result,  an 
intelligent  and  moral  system  might  be  superinduced, 
would  be  the  rational  genesis  of  creation,  deduced  from 
the  postulate  that  God  exists,  and  is  an  ever-active 
supreme  mind. 

FORCES  AND  LAWS,  INSTRUMENTALITIES  IN  DEVELOPING  THE 
DIVINE  PLAN. 

Again  : In  order  to  accomplish  a plan  it  is  necessary 
that  the  designing  and  controlling  mind  should  under- 
stand the  mode  and  effect  of  the  agencies  used  in  ac- 


118 


CKEATION  AND  CONTROL 


complisliing  the  end.  It  is  obvious  to  every  one  that 
no  being  could  accomplish  a particular  end  without 
using  agencies  which  acted  in  a definite  form  and  pro- 
duced definite  results  ; hence  it  follows^  that  definite 
properties  of  matter ^ as  second  causes  operating  as 
forces  under  law^  would  be  introduced  as  instrument- 
alities in  developing  the  Divine  plan  on  the  earth.  A 
supreme  mind  could  thus  use  matter  in  such  states  and 
measures^  and  apply  force  in  such  places  and  forms, 
and  according  to  such  laws,  as  would  accomplish  on 
earth  the  end  contemplated  from  the  beginning.  Rea- 
son,  the  supreme  as  well  as  the  finite^  makes  rules  for 
itself. 


ORDER  OF  ADVANCE  BY  DESTRUCTION  AND  CREATION. 

Again  : In  the  nature  of  progress  to  a higher  end,  it 
is  obvious  that  succeeding  created  forms  must  be  di- 
verse from  those  which  preceded  them  ; and  in  a series 
of  ages  of  progress,  commensurate  with  the  known  ex- 
istence of  the  world,  there  would  be  almost  innumer- 
able forms  of  life,  each  succeeding  genus,  as  a general 
rule,  advancing  beyond  preceding  ones.  Now,  when 
• we  take  into  the  estimate  the  limited  extent  of  the 
earth^s  surface,  and  likewise  the  fact  that  different  con- 
ditions are  adapted  to  different  forms  of  life,  it  is  clear 
that  there  would  neither  be  space  nor  conditions  to  sus- 


BY  DIVINE  AGENCY.  119 

tain,  in  continned  existence,  the  myriads  of  species 
that  the  serial  progress  of  creation  has  required  : hence 
the  march  of  creation  through  time  would  proceed  up- 
ward hy  destructions  and  new  creations^  the  change  of 
conditions  upon  the  surface  destroying  the  preceding 
species,  or  new  species  destroying  the  older  ones.  In 
one,  or  in  many  ways,  the  preceding  species  gradually 
or  at  once,  must  sink  from  existence  as  the  advanced 
forms  come  in ; therefore  the  necessities  of  space  and 
conditions  required  that  preceding  species,  as  a general 
rule,  should  become  extinct  as  higher  forms  were  intro- 
duced upon  the  globe. 

Such,  in  view  of  the  facts  and  reasons  of  the  case,  is, 
in  our  opinion,  a rational  hypothesis  of  the  Creator  and 
the  creation.  Matter  and  its  properties  • in  the  begin- 
ning ; force  developed  and  laws  instituted  by  the  dis- 
positions of  matter  ; organic  life  and  progress  from 
lower  to  higher  forms  ; that  progress  effected  by  the 
instrumentality  of  natural  forces  and  laws  ; advance 
by  the  destruction  of  lower  and  the  introduction  of 
higher  species  ; the  whole  produced,  advanced,  and 
controlled  in  accordance  with  a plan  which  bears  the 
impress  of  a Supreme  Creator  and  Governor  of  matter 
ard  mind. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE  CORPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL. 

CONCERNING  WHAT  WE  MAY  KNOW  OF  THE  FUTURE  AND  OF 

GOD  FROM  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THINGS  VIEWED  IN  CON- 
NECTION WITH  THE  LAW  OF  PROGRESS. 

If  the  capacious  and  discriminating  mind  of  Paley, 
without  a knowledge  that  there  was  to  he  any  future 
progress  in  creation^  had  deduced  from  the  structure 
and  habits  of  things  existing  during  the  secondary 
geological  epoch;  testimonies  for  the  perfections  of  God, 
the  evidence  of  Divine  goodness  would  have  been  weak 
and  unsatisfactory  compared  with  that  which  Paley 
and  his  annotators  have  deduced  from  the  present 
forms  and  fitness  of  things.  Yet  all  who  believe  in 
the  supremacy  of  the  Divine  mind  allow  that  the  Infi- 
nite Being;  who  presides  over  the  creation  noW;  reigned 
and  wrought  through  all  the  periods  of  the  earth's  his- 
tory. It  is  evident;  therefore;  that  the  created  product 
of  no  single  period  in  the  earth's  progress  can  exhibit 
either  the  best  testimony  or  all  the  testimony  which 


TKANSITION,  ETC.  121 

nature  furnishes  for  the  being  and  perfections  of  Grod. 
Any  one  period  in  the  history  of  creative  progress  is 
out  one  part  of  a great  plan  which  includes  the  whole. 
As  that  plan  is  developed  in  time^  growing  toward  per- 
fection with  the  lapse  of  ages^  to  infer  the  character  of 
Grod  from  a single  period  in  the  series  would  be  but  lit- 
tle better  than  to  infer  the  wisdom  of  the  mechanist 
from  the  adjustment  of  one  set  of  wheels  in  a watch, 
without  including  the  scope  and  final  end  of  the  whole 
mechanism. 

It  is  conceded,  of  course,  that  the  conformation  of 
each  creature  that  has  lived,  or  that  now  lives,  is  per- 
fectly adapted  to  the  condition  and  relations  in  which 
the  Creator  has  placed  it.  This  is  a perfect  but  a sub- 
ordinate adjustment.  An  individual  part  may  be  com- 
plete in  itself,  and  at  the  same  time  be  but  a part  of  a 
great  whole.  Dr.  Bell  has  exhibited,  in  a striking  man- 
ner, the  design  according  to  which  osseous  mechanism 
and  muscular  power  are  adjusted  in  the  human  hand. 
Still  the  human  frame,  considered  in  the  perfection  of 
all  its  adjusted  parts,  and  the  whole  viewed  as  the 
physical  organism  of  an  intelligent  and  moral  being, 
would  give  plenitude  and  pertinency  to  the  evidence 
for  the  Divine  existence  and  attributes,  which  no  one 
part  of  any  created  being  could  do.  The  final  end  of 

a whole  plan,  including  the  adaptations  and  fitness  of 

6 


122 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


all  its  parts,  is  the  highest  testimony  to  the  character 
of  a designer  who  begins  the  structure  with  its  ends 
and  uses  in  view. 

The  plan,  then  (perfect  in  itself  though  it  may  be), 
included  in  the  structure  of  any  one  creature,  is  a sub- 
ordinate and  a subservient  one.  It  may  be  necessary 
xii  the  adjustment  of  a great  scheme  that  there  should 
be  checks  and  balances.  In  a process  of  development 
there  are  stages  and  parts  that  are  imperfect.  There 
may  be  parts  of  a structure  whose  uses  in  themselves 
seem  ignominious  or  injurious,  while  yet,  in  attaining 
the  end  of  the  scheme,  their  oflS.ce  and  operation  are 
jDrofitable.’^ 

Let  us  consider,  then,  the  whole  economy  of  creation 
from  flirst  to  last,  as  one  complete  design,  still  in  pro- 
cess of  development.  In  a preceding  chapter  we  en- 
deavored to  exhibit  an  outline  of  this  chain  of  pro- 
gress. Commencing  with  the  lower  forms  in  the  great 
orders  of  animated  life,  we  noticed  the  ascent,  indis- 

* The  argument  which  aims  to  avert  the  conviction  that  malevolence  is 
indicated  by  the  mechanism  and  final  end  of  the  fang  and  poison-sac  of 
the  viper,  and  other  contrivances  similar  in  aim,  are  in  themselves  of 
value ; but  they  would  be  strengthened  and  receive  relief  by  allowing 
such  instances  of  evil  in  the  subordinate  and  individual  subject  to  be 
classed  as  checks  and  balances  necessary,  not  only  in  promoting  the  ends 
of  hfe  in  the  creature  itself^  but  that  the  creature,  its  mechanism  included, 
are  adapted  to  work  out  the  grand  economy  of  a creation  advancing 
through  lower  stages  up  to  the  perfect. 


COBPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  123 


tinct  in  some  of  its  ramifications^  but  obviously  tend- 
ing upward,  until  the  structure  is  crowned  by  the  crea- 
tion of  a human  being,  possessing  an  intelligeat  and 
moral  nature.  We  noticed  that  it  was  in  view  of  the 
wants  and  faculties  of  man,  ages  previously  to  his  ex- 
stence,  that  many  portions  of  the  creation  had  been 
formed  and  located.  Let  us  inquire  now  whether 
there  is  evidence  that  the  progress  manifest  in  the  Di- 
vine  plan  tends  to  a perfect  physical  and  moral  con- 
summation. 

When  we  find,  by  observing  the  processes  of  nature, 
that  certain  facts  may  be  predicted  of  all  the  move- 
ments of  physical  bodies,  or  when  the  phenomena  of 
life  are  produced  continuously,  according  to  certain 
methods,  we  call  such  general  facts,  in  the  order  of 
things,  laws.  But  when  we  find  a method  of  progress 
which,  while  its  advance  is  certain,  yet  the  advance  is 
by  change  — by  interposition  — not  by  any  method 
mathematically  regulated- — then  the  manifest  progress 
is  attributable  to  a principle  or  method  of  Divine  oper- 
ation, and  should  be  so  designated,  lest,  being  distin- 
guished in  no  way  from  the  laws  of  nature,  two  things 
which  are  different  should  be  confounded  as  the  same. 
But  in  the  things  which  we  are  now  to  say,  the  dis- 
crimination is  not  of  great  importance.  Whatever 


124 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


be  the  nominal  designation  of  the  method,  no  one  will 
be  disposed  to  doubt  the  fact. 

The  existence  of  the  principle  of  progress,  as  we 
have  shown,  is  certified  by  the  history  of  all  periods  of 
the  creation.  From  the  beginning  upward  to  man, 
progress  in  the  general  mechanism  of  animal  forms, 
and  in  the  properties  of  the  life  power,  has  marked  the 
successive  exertions  of  creative  energy.  Sometimes  a 
link  is  fost  or  broken  ; but  a sufficient  number  are 
found  connected  in  the  series  to  mark  the  place  of  the 
lost  link,  and  to  furnish  indubitable  evidence  that 
there  are 

“ Links  of  life  through  nature  creeping, 

Serial  steps  progressing  ever.” 

From  the  lowest  vertebrate  the  structure  rises  to 
mammals  and  to  man.  The  principle  rests  upon  data 
as  old  as  creation,  and  data  that  is  constantly  repeated 
during  the  whole  history  of  life  upon  the  globe. 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  PROGRESS  IN  THE  CREATION  ULTIMATES 
IN  THE  PERFECT. 

The  principle  thus  ascertained  is,  in  itself,  evidence 
that  the  Divine  plan  covers  the  whole  creation  in  all 
time.  Not  only  are  the  different  divisions  of  creation 
linked  togethei  and  expanding  upward,  but  all  the  dif- 


CORPOREAL  to'  THE  SPIRITUAL.  125 


ferent  families  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms 
are  united  in  one  plan,  and  adapted  to  each  other. 
Each  species -is  perfect  in  its  place,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  balanced  and  adjusted  with  all  other  things  ; 
and  the  principle  of  progress  is  over  all.  Thousands  of 
species  have  ceased  to  be,  but  they  were  links  in  a 
chain  of  life,  which,  while  it  may  have  decayed  at  the 
bottom,  it  is  still  growing  and  ripening  to  a consum- 
mation at  the  top.  The  scheme  of  creation  which  has 
been  in  progress  from  the  beginning  covers  all  time, 
and  includes  all  created  things.  Now  as  it  is  certain 
that  progress  in  creation  is  a principle  or  method  of  the 
Divine  operation,  then,  unless  God  has  abandoned  a 
method  which  has  forever  characterized  his  working, 
future  progress  is  certain— progress  to  a consummation 
brighter  and  better  than  man  has  conceived.  A con- 
summation for  the  birth  of  which  all  nature  has  trav- 
ailed from  the  beginning  until  now ; and  nature  still 
travails,  and  the  birth-throes  which  will  bring  forth  a 
better  condition  of  body  and  spirit  are  coming  on. 
The  creation  is  made  subject  to  vanity,'^  or  imper- 
fection, yet  we  wait  in  hope  for  that  birth  of  the  per- 
fect which  will  close  and  consummate  the  life-labor 
of  the  world.'"" 

* Paul  says — and  if  it  may  be  interpreted  in  its  largest  sense,  it  is  cer* 
talnly  an  evidence  of  his  inspiration — “For  we  know  that  the  whole 


126 


TRANSITION  *FEOM  THE 


The  existence  of  a principle  of  progress  in  the  crea- 
tion being  established,  it  is  unwarrantable  to  suppose 
that  its  operation  will  cease  until  it  has  produced  per- 
fection. The  fact  that  it  is  an  established  method  of 
the  Divine  procedure  is  evidence  of  its  stability.  We 
may  announce  it  as  an  axiom  that  the  will  of  God  is 
realized  only  in  the  perfect.  We  have  proved  that  the 
perfect  in  creation  is  attained  by  progress.  The  oper- 
ation of  the  principle,  therefore,  must  continue,  until 
it  has  accomplished  a perfect  result.  Such  a result  is 
not  attained  in  the  present  constitution  of  things,  hence 
we  may  confidently  look  for  a further  development  of 
the  Divine  plan. 


PROGRESS  OF  EACH  SPECIES  IS  NOT  TO  ANOTHER  HIGHER  THAN 
ITSELF^  BUT  TO  PERFECTION  IN  ITSELF. 

Apart  from  this  legitimate  and  important  conclusion, 
deduced  from  the  history  of  the  past  and  from  the 
principles  and  reason  of  the  case,  there  are  evidences 
that  each  series  of  the  creation  is  so  framed,  and  the 
several  species  so  related  to  each  other,  and  to  the  laws 
under  which  they  are  placed,  that  each  species,  during 

creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now.  And  not 
only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit; 
even  we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  viz., 
the  redemption  of  our  body  in  a future  and  better  condition  according 
to  the  promise  of  Christ  in  2 Pet.  iii.  13. 


‘CORPOEEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  127 


its  period  on  the  earthy  approximates  perfection  in  form 
and  faculty^  while  a general  improvement  goes  on  in 
the  animated  creation  as  a whole.  Thus^  not  only  the 
whole  series  of  things^  hut  each  species^  advances  until 
it  has  fulfilled  its  time  and  conditions  on  earth.  This 
is  especially  obvious  since  the  creation  of  man  and  the 
genera  of  creatures  which  were  originated  with  him. 
The  advance  visible  in  the  present  series  of  the  crea- 
tion is  toward  perfection  in  the  proper  faculties  of 
present  species,  and  to  a complete  occupancy  of  the 
conditions  which  the  higher  species  fill.  The  progress 
in  each  species  is  not  toward  another  higher  than  itself ^ 
hut  to  higher  perfection  in  its  own  form  and  attributes. 
This  fact,  of  the  veracity  of  which  we  shall  adduce 
some  instances,  is  a plain  testimony  which  may  be 
added  to  those  we  have  already  noticed,  that  if  there 
be  progress  beyond  the  perfected  species  of  any  series, 
it  is  not  by  transmutation  but  by  creation. 

A brief  synopsis  of  subjects  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
that  causes  are  now  interworking,  which  will  secure  by 
their  operation  progress  in  the  forms  and  faculties  of 
the  present  species  of  things  ; and  hence,  when  the 
present  species  have  reached  their  limit  of  attainment, 
and  filled  the  conditions  adapted  to  their  constitutions, 
an  advance  of  .condition  and  of  created  life  may  be 
expected. 


128 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


CIRCUMSTANCES  WHICH  ARE  AUXILIARY  TO  PROGRESS. 

The  stronger  of  each  species  govern  the  weaker  ; the 
best  variety  prevails  over  inferior  ones.  The  instincts 
of  the  lower  animals,  especially,  lead  them  to  enforce 
this  principle.  Often  the  stronger  destroy  the  weaker. 
Now,  as  the  stronger  of  each  species  govern,  and  as 
progeny  bears  the  physical  characteristics  of  paternity, 
then  other  things  being  equal,  present  species  will  con- 
tinually improve. 

As  in  former  periods  of  the  creation  so  in  the  pres- 
ent, individual  species — as  the  Dodo — ^have  ceased  to 
exist.  Having  accomplished  the  end  of  their  being,  in 
connection  with  the  great  scheme  of  the  Creator,  they 
sink  out  of  the  life-chain. 

Man,  the  last  production  of  creative  energy,  is  the 
enemy  of  all  destructive  and  poison-bearing  things.  • If 
man,  therefore,  with  his  present  facilities  to  destroy, 
shall  fully  occupy  the  habitable  parts  of  the  globe, 
injurious  species  of  animals  will  be  subdued  or  de- 
stroyed. 

Thus,  not  only  do  species  improve  and  injurious  spe« 
cies  diminish,  but,  by  the  laws  of  nature,  the  qualities 
of  manhood  will  likewise  advance.  Individuals  from 
families  that  are  enfeebled  by  luxury,  or  by  want  of 
exercise  in  the  open  air,  or  by  hereditary  disease,  are 


CORPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL  129 


less  prolific  than  tlie  active^  healthy  parent ; and  the 
children  they  do  beget  are  less  likely  to  live  and  beget 
othc  rs.  Thus  the  weak  by  indulgence  or  disease  re- 
cede^ while  the  better  in  corporeity  advance. 

The  mingling  of  races  improves  the  human  constitu- 
tion in  the  general  issue.  On  the  American  continent 
an  admixture  of  bloody  such  as  the  history  of  man 
never  furnished  before,  is  in  progress,  All  kindreds, 
and  nations,  and  tongues,  under  the  whole  heavens,^^ 
ar^  to  mingle  in  the  new  world,  and  work  out  a final 
result  in  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral  condition  of 
humanity,  as  perfect  as  the  present  constitution  of 
things  will  allow. 

The  laws  of  health  and  happiness  are  better  under- 
stood by  each  succeeding  generation.f  In  the  present 

* Is  it  not  true,  likewise,  that  wars,  when  they  are  prompted  by  power 
and  not  by  patriotism,  draw  mostly  from  the  lowest  and  worst  of  the 
human  family : — ^thus  bad  seed  is  destroyed. 

f Macauley  tells  us  that  “the  term  of  human  life  has  been  lengthened 
in  the  whole  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  and  especially  in  the  towns.  ] u 
the  year  1685,  not  accounted  a sickly  year,  more  than  one  in  twenty  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  died;  at  present,  only  one  in  forty  dies 
annually.  The  difference  between  London  of  the  nineteenth  century  and 
the  London  of  the  seventeenth  century  is  greater  than  the  difference  be 
tween  London  in  ordinary  years  and  London  in  the  cholera.” 

M.  Charles  Dupin,  in  a recent  paper  read  before  the  Institute,  says  that 
“from  17^76  to  1843  (sixty^seven  years),  the  duration  of  life  had  been  in- 
creasing in  France  at  the  average  rate  of  fifty-two  days  annually,  so  that 
the  total  gain  in  two  thirds  of  a century  amounted  to  nine  and  a half 
years ; and  that  in  no  year  of  that  period,  whether  during  the  Republic, 

6^ 


130 


TKANSITION  FKOM  THE 


state  of  civilization  all  the  experiences  of  the  past  are 
accumulated,  classified,  and  improved,  in  the  present ; 
and  with  present  means  of  intercommunication,  and 
the  influence  of  the  printing  press,  retrogression  is  im- 
possible— advance  certain. 

Many  other  items  might  he  added— these  are  suffi- 
cient to  show  that  the  power  of  progress  is  still  oper- 
ating by  improvement  of  species,  and  by  extinction  of 
some  species,  and  the  numerical  increase  of  better 
ones  ; and  hence,  by  analogy,  when  the  present  ra^es 
have  reached  their  limit  in  form  and  condition,  a general 

change  of  conditions  will  again  ensue  upon  our  globe, 

« 

If,  therefore,  we  consider  the  present  imperfect  state  - 
of  the  creation — that  the  Divine  attributes  seek  perfec- 
tion as  an  end,  but  that  the  present  physical  constituo 
tion  of  things  will  not  admit  of  ultimate  general  per- 
fection in  the  present  series  ; and  consider  in  connec- 

the  Consulate,  or  the  Empire,  did  the  annual  increase  fall  below  nineteen 
days.” 

*•  It  may  be  said  in  abatement  of  the  anticipation  of  future  good,  that, 
under  the  permanent  laws  and  relations  of  the  solar  system,  only  a certain 
degree  of  physical  perfectibility  is  attainable  upon  our  planet.  But  if  the 
present  physical  condition  of,  things  upon  the  eartH  be  not  ultimate,  as  we 
have  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  not,  then,  without  affecting  any 
law  of  the  solar  system^  the  constituents  of  the  atmosphere — the  relations 
of  light,  heat — the  magnetic  and  other  occult  principles,  and  especially 
the  igneous  dissolution  and  re-construction  of  the  mundane  fabric — may, 
by  new  adjustments,  produce  new  conditions,  which  will  sustain  physi(;al 
good  and  restrain  physical  evil. 


CGRPOEEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  131 


tion  with  this  the  fact,  that  progress  toward  perfection 
is  a principle  of  Divine  procedure^  the  operation  of 
which  still  continues  ; the  advance  of  creation  to  the 
perfect  will  he  put^  we  think^  beyond  question.  The 
principle  itself^  and  the  attributes  of  the  Creator^ 
assure  us  of  the  final  result. 

THE  MORAL  PERFECT  THE  END  OF  CREATION. 

There  are  yet  other  and  higher  considerations^  of  a 
moral  character,  which  indicate  that  beyond  the  im- 
perfect present  there  is  a perfect  future.  The  fact,  as 

* “ The  doctrine  of  a life  to  come,  some  persons  will  say,  is  a 'doctrine 
of  natural  religion  ; and  can  never,  therefore,  he  properly  alleged  to  show 
the  importance  of  revelation.  They  judge  perhaps  from  the  frame,  of  the 
worlds  that  the  present  system  is  imperfect;  they  see  designs  in  it^  not  yet 
completed;  and  they  have  grounds  for  expecting  another  state,  in  which  these 
designs  shall  he  further  carried  on,  and  brought  to  a conclusion  worthy  of  in- 
finite wisdom.  I am  not  concerned  to  dispute  the  justness  of  this  reason 
ing;  nor  do  I wish  to  dispute  it.” — T.  Balguy,  D.D.,  Discourse. 

So.  Bishop  Butler,  in  his  sermon  upon  Human  Ignorance,  says  in  a 
note : 

Suppose  some  very  complicated  piece  of  work,  some  system  or  con- 
stitution, formed  for  some  general  end,  to  which  each  of  the  parts  had  a 
reference ; the  perfection  or  justness  of  this  work  or  constitution  would  com 
sist  in  the  reference  and  respect  which  the  several  parts  have  to  the  general  de- 
sign. Or  a part  may  have  this  distant  reference  to  the  general  design, 
and  may  also  contribute  immediately  to  it.  For  instance : if  the  genera] 
design  pr  end,  for  which  the  complicated  frame  of  nature  was  brought 
into  being,  is  happiness ; whatever  affords  present  satisfaction,  and  like* 
wise  tends  to  carry  on  the  course  of  things,  hath  this  double  respect  ta 
the  general  design.” 


132 


TKANSITION  FROM  THE 


we  have  stated,  that  the  present,  condition  of  things  is 
imperfect,  and  that  further  advances  is  possible,  indi- 
cate that  the  Divine  plan  has  not  reached  its  fruition. 
This  is  clearly  perceived  when  we  consider  man  as  the 
crown  of  the  present  creation,  and  his  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties  as  the  latest  and  highest  product  of 
Creative  Power. 

We  have  dwelt  upon  the  advance  in  animal  struct- 
ures and  faculties.  We  turn  now  to  the  intellectual 
and  moral  nature  of  man — to  attributes  which  place 
man  supreme  over  the  creatures  and  assimilate  him  to 
Grod,  having  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  The 
preceding  processes  of  creation  close  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  a moral  nature.  Creation  has  been  developed 
upon  a material  basis  up  toward  moral  perfection. 
Corporeal  natures  have  been  lost — species  and  genera 
of  mere  animals  have  ceased  to  be.  This  indicates 
that  the  corporeal  and  animal  structure  of  things  is 
subservient  to  the  moral,  as  means  are  subservient  to  a 
higher  end.  The  ultimate  aim  of  the  principle  of  pro^ 
gress  is  perfection  of  moral  attributes  ; and  to  this  the 
corporeal  organimtion  of  all  things^  from  the  dawn  of 
creation^  has  been  auxiliary.  In  the  nature  of  man  we 
find  evidence  both  of  a perfect  future,  and  of  the  being 
and  attributes  of  God.  Let  us  notice  these  in  order. 
First,  what  the  nature  of  man  reveals  concerning  a 


COKPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  133 


futMe  better  than  the  present ; and  second,  what  it 
reveals  concerning  the  moral  perfections  of  God. 


PREVISIONS  OP  THE  PERPECT  IN  MAN. 

There  are  in  the  soul  of  man  previsions  of  the  per- 
fect. The  mind  can,  and  the  poet  does,  create  scenes 
of  beauty,  of  love,  of  sublimity,  far  beyond  the  present 
condition  of  things.’*'  If  the  pure-hearted  poet  had 
the  power,  he  would  actualize  upon  earth  a condition 
of  things  where  sweetness  of  affection,  beauty  of  na- 
ture, might  of  intellect,  and  majesty  of  morals,  would 
combine,  as  they  never  can  in  the  present  earth.  The 
mind  of  man  can  in  its  present  state  create  this  ideal 
world  of  well-being  and  beauty,  and  people  it  with  per- 
fect and  happy  beings.  This,  certainly  may  be  taken 

* Is  man  a microcosm  ? Do  the  best  minds  contain  in  themselves  types 
of  the  past  and  future?  It  would  seem,  at  least,  from  some  passages  in 
authors  of  the  highest  style  of  genius,  that  scenes  unknown  to  them,  both 
in  the  past  and  future,  were  mirrored  in  the  magic  glass  of  their  con- 
sciousness. Perhaps  no  man  is  able  now  to  describe  a scene,  and  the 
most  singular  creature  of  the  saurian  age,  better  than  Milton  has  done  it 
Geology  had  not  revealed  the  fact  in  Milton’s  day,  that  such  a creature  as 
the  Pterodactyle  ever  existed.  Now  we  have  the  restored  osseous  struc- 
ture, but  who  can  give  a more  graphic  description  than  the  following  ? — 

The  fiend 

O’er  log  or  steep^  through  stroM^  roughs  dense  or  rare, 

With  head,  hands,  wings,  or  feet,  pursues  his  way ; 

And  swims,  or  sinks,  or  wades,  or  creeps,  or  flies^ 

Par.  Lost,  b.  vii. 


134 


TKANSITION  FROM  THE 


as  an  indication  that  there  will  he  such  a condition, 
and  that  the  soul  of  man  is  created  capable  of  becom- 
ing a denizen  of  a better  state.  If  no  such  condition 
can  be  realized  or  attained  in  the  future,  the  nature  of 
man  is  a sophism,  because  it  foreshadows  a future  con- 
dition which  is  yet  never  to  be  attained. 


MAN  CAPABLE  OF  APPRECIATING  THE  MORAL  PERFECT. 

There  is  likewise  a capability  in  man  to  appreciate 
moral  -excellence  in  advance  of  present  attainment. 
Men  often  admire  in  others  what  they  are  unwilling  to 
be  themselves.  Bad  as  the  world  is,  respect  is  al- 
ways paid  to  virtue.^^  Self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
others,  or  for  the  cause  of  virtue,  has  been  canonized 
in  all  ages.  Even  among  pagan  nations,  where  the 
moral  faculties  are  perverted  by  a false  credence,  the 
nature' of  man  has  spontaneously  testified  that  there  is 
in  humanity  a capability  to  appreciate  the  true  and 
the  good.  Visions  of  a future  good  beyond  the  present 
condition  have  been  the  indigenous  product  of  the  hu- 
man mind  in  all  ages.  These  visions,  shaded  by  the  * 
colors  of  the  peculiar  theology  of  every  people,  have 
been  consecrated  by  the  human  races  as  a part  of  a 
good  man's  inheritance  in  the  future  life.  Man  pro- 
duces from  himself  a moral  future  better  than  the 


COKPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  135 

present ; and  if  he  conceive  of  evil  in  the  future,  it  is 
only  as  the  penalty  of  sin,  indicating  that  a sense  of 
justice,  as  well  as  of  mercy,  are  mingled  in  his  visions 
of  the  future  state. 


SENSE  OF  THE  PRESENT  IMPERFECT  IN  MAN. 

There  is  likewise  a consciousness  in  many  men  of  the 
imperfections  of  the  present  state.  Perhaps  this  is 
true  of  all  men.  A sense  of  the  present  imperfect 
moral  condition  of  the  human  soul,  and  aspirations  for 
a higher  good  have  been  expressed  by  deep  thinkers  in 
every  age  o:^  the  world.  Grotius  has  collected  many 
passages,  in  which  the  mingled  convictions  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  old  Greeks  and  Komans  come  out  in  the 
heart-utterances  which  they  have  put  upon  record.’^ 

* Araspes  the  Persian,  in  order  to  excuse  his  treasonable  designs,  says : 
“ Certainly  I must  have  two  souls,  for  plainly  it  is  not  one  and  the  same 
that  is  both  evil  and  good ; and  at  the  same  time  wishes  to  do  a thing  and 
not  to  do  it.  Plainly,  then,  there  are  two  souls ; and  when  the  good  one 
prevails  then  it  does  good,  and  when  the  evil  one  prevails  then  it  does 
evil.” — ^Zen.  Gyrop.  vi.  1. 

“ He  that  sins,  does  not  do  what  he  would ; but  what  he  would  not, 
that  he  does.” — Epictetus,  En.  ii,  26. 

So  Ovid  {Meta,  vi.  19),  in  language  used  almost  verbatim  by  the  apostle 
Paul:— 

“ aliudque  Cupido, 

Mens  aliud  suadet.  Yideo  meliora,  proboque ; 

Deteriora  sequor.” 

Desire  prompts  to  one  thing,  but  reason  persuades  to  another,  I see 
the  good  and  approve  it  and  yet  I pursue  the  wrong. 


136 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


THE  SOUL  OF  MAN  CAPABLE  OF  MORAL  CULTURE  IN  VIEW 
OF  THE  PERFECT. 

Another  indication  that  a perfect  moral  future  is  a 
part  of  the  Divine  design^  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  man 
is  SO  constituted  that  his  best  condition  in  this  life  is 
realized  by  living  under  the  influence  of  that  faith 
which  affirms  a future  moral  state^  purer  and  better 
than  the  present.  Man  attains  his  highest  moral  con- 
dition in  this  world  by  a faith  which  produces  love  and 
reverence  for  a pure  Being  who  inhabits  eternity ; by 
hopes  which  aspire  after  a higher  perfection,  and  by  a 
sense  of  responsibility  which  connects  the  trials  and 
duties  of  the  present  state  with  the  awards  and  em- 
ployments of  the  world  to  come.  Upon  the  supposi- 
tion that  Grod  is  a benevolent  being,  the  thought  can 
not  be  entertained  that  he  would  predicate  man's  best 
moral  condition  on  earth  upon  hopes  and  conviction:^ 
which  are  never  to  be  realized. 

This  thought  is  more  obvious  when  we  consider  the 
present  life  as  a state  of  probation  or  moral  culture. 
We  know  it  is  true,  not  only  from  revelation  but  by 
experience,  that  confidence  in  a better  state  to  come 
renders  the  trials  and  conflicts  which  men  bear  in  this 
world  a blessing  to  those  who  endure  the  discipline  in 
view  of  a future  life.  The  blessings  which  spring  from 


COKPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  137 


earthly  trials  are  grounded  upon  faith  in  Grod^s  charac- 
ter, in  connection  with  a future  life.  Without  faith  in 
the  future,  evil  in  this  world  can  not  become  a bless- 
ing. Can  we  suppose,  then,  that  the  moral  world  is  so 
constituted  that  evil  is  turned  to  good  by  that  which  is 
not  true  ? 

MAN  ACTUALLY  IN  PROBATION  UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE  OF 
CULTURE. 

The  character  of  influences  about  us  will,  by  thought- 
ful consideration,  admonish  every  one  that  this  is  a 
state  of  probation  or  moral  trial.  All  are  subjected  in 
the  present  condition  to  temptations  adapted  to  seduce 
to  evil,  or  to  suasion  which  induces  to  good.  Within 
the  limit  of  every  man^s  observation  are  good  and  bad 
examples — good  and  bad  books.  Every  man's  heart  is 
open,  and  every  man  feels  the  power  of  good  and  evil 
influence.  Man  is  conscious  of  good  monition  and  of 
evil  suggestion  in  himself ; and  it  is  a law  of  nature 
that  the  exercise  of  our  moral  powers  under  evil  sug- 
gestion or  influence,  confirms  evil  habits  and  an  evil 
disposition  ; and  so  on  the  contrary,  when  men's  moral 
faculties  are  exercised  in  obedience  to  good  influence,  a 
good  character  is  formed.  The  present  life,  in  the 
present  condition  of  things,  is,  therefore,  a state  of  mor- 
al formation.  This  is  not  only  trae  of  each  individ- 


138 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


ual^  but  the  progress  of  the  whole,  taking  the  sum  of 
individuals  and  of  generations  in  time,  indicates  that 
moral  culture  is  advancing,  and  that  the  family  of  man, 
as  a whole,  are  rising  in  the  scale  of  moral  excellence.'^ 
Now,  then,  as  human  trials  can  only  become  a bless- 
ing by  faith  in  the  future — and  as  man  as  an  individ- 
ual, and  man  as  a genus,  is  advancing  in  good,  and  to 
good,  by  convictions  which  realize  a better  life  here- 
after, who  shall  say  that  Grod  has  constituted  man,  in- 
dividually and  socially,  so  that  his  best  good  arises 
from  fallacious  conceptions  ? But  if  the  convictions 
which  produce  man^s  best  condition  be  true,  then  there 
is  a future  and  better  state  for  those  whose  culture  is 
adapting  their  character  to  the  condition  hoped  for. 

* No  one  can  study  human  history  without  perceiving  in  the  progress 
of  society  what  we  see  in  the  geological  advances  of  our^art^^— ^ 
tions  of  human  society ; certain  nations  and  classes  of  men  attaining  the 
highest  state  which  their  fundamental  convictions  would  allow.  Streams, 
and  sometimes  disrupting  floods  of  population,  set  in  various  directions — 
new  strata  of  society  are  formed  over  large  areas — the  old  disintegrated 
masses  are  formed  in  with  the  new ; and  yet,  amid  all  those  changes  of 
location,  of  condition,  and  of  opinion,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  Divine  Provi- 
dence over  all,  shaping  all  social  disruptions  and  formations  so  as  to  se- 
cure in  the  issue  a general  advance  of  the  civil,  social,  and  moral  in- 
terests of  men.  There  are,  of  course,  in  time  and  place,  local  advances 
and  reactions ; but  a general  advance  is  the  certain  issue  of  the  whole. 
A recent  writer  has  developed  some  of  the  principles  by  which  the  final 
advance  from  our  period  forward  will  be  secured.  It  is  the  wisdom  of  the 
statesman  and  the  glory  of  the  church  to  give  the  principles  of  progres- 
sion proper  apphcations. — Yide  The.  oj  Progression. 


COEPOEEAL  TO  THE  SPIEITUAL.  189 


THE  SOUL  OP  MAN  MAY  RECEIVE  A CULTURE  HERE  WHICH 

KAISES  IT  SUPERIOR  TO  THE  BODY  AND  ITS  TEMPORAL  SUR- 
ROUNDINGS. 

Again  : The  soul  of  man  can  be  elevated  by  culture 
to  moral  attainments  beyond  his  present  circumstances, 
or  to  a condition  which  renders  his  present  temporal 
surroundings  unfitted  to  his  spiritual  attainments.  He 
can  be  cultivated  until  he  becomes  superior  to  the  con- 
dition in  which  he  is  placed.  He  can  follow  light  and 
cherish  love  until  he  draws  from  the  objects  of  the 
spiritual  world  good  beyond  that  which  he  can  gain 
from  earthly  things.  As  a matter  of  fact,  there  is  in 
the  world  a faith  by  which  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for^^  is  drawn  from  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen.'"  Whether  men  account  the  Christian  Kecord  a 
fable  or  a fact,  still  the  statement  will  not  be  ques- 
tioned, that  those  who  believe  it  may  draw  from  the 
manifestation  of  love  and  purity  in  the  New  Testament 
a soul-culture  and  a spiritual  benediction,  beyond  what 
all  the  treasures  of  earth  can  yield.  Such  being  the 
nature  of  man,  if  the  Christian  Beligion  he  not  now  a 
revelation  from  Oodj  God  ought  to  reveal  it;  because 
the  spiritual  appetencies  of  humanity  demand  the  spir^ 
itual  pabulum  which  it  furnishes.  And  as  man  is  raised 
above  his  present  condition  by  faith  in  a better  world 


140 


TKANSITION  FROM  THE 


and  a better  future^  it  is  due  to  man^s  moral  constitu- 
tion that  such  a future  shall  exist. 

BY  THE  REVEALED  CHARACTER  OF  GOD,  MEN  ARE  ACTUALLY  CUL- 
TURED HERE  INTO  FITNESS  FOR  A BETTER  LIFE  THAN  THE 

PRESENT. 

Furthermore : Man  is  created  capable  of  knowing 
and  appreciating  the  attributes  of  a Divine  Being, 
whose  perfections  are  beyond  the  character  of  God,  as 
that  character  is  revealed  in  the  present  constitution 
of  things.  Now  (as  we  shall  show  more  fully  hereafter) 
the  character  of  God  is  the  rational  and  only  means  of 
moral  culture ; and  if  man  can  apprehend  and  appre- 
ciate a Divine  Being,  perfect  beyond  wh^t  the  present 
condition  of  nature  reveals,  and  if  this  chamcter  is 
revealed^  we  may  infer  that  it  is  the  design  of  the 
Maker  that  man,  in. his  present  imperfect  state,  should 
be  cultivated  into  a moral  character,  which  will  fit  him 
for  a condition  in  advance  of  the  present.  In  the 
love-sacrifice  of  Christ,  ^s  we  shall  see,  there  is  a mani- 
festation of  benevolence  above  that  which  can  be 
learned  from  all  that  man  can  know  of  created  things. 
Man  can  appreciate  and  aspire  to  this^  supermundane 
excellence  ; and  in  the  case  of  every  one  who  possesses 
true  faith  (faith  that  moves  the  heart  and  will  in^  ac- 
cordance and  in  consistency  with  the  character  of  the 


CORPOKEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  141 


things  believed),  the  manifestation  of  God,  given  to 
man  in  the  present  state,  elevates  him  to  the  character 
required  by  the  future  and  better  state.  Thus,  con- 
formity to  the  character  of  God  revealed  in  Christ  is 
conformity  to  the  character  of  God  ruling  in  a better 
state  than  the  present  ; a conformity  which  lifts  the 
soul  above  the  condition  and  surroundings  in  which  it 
now  exists,  and  above  the  qualities  and  natural  pro- 
pensities of  the  present  corporeity.  , It  is  thus  fitted 
for  the  new  creation  to  which  it  aspires  in  a better  life. 
Unless,  therefore,  God  fit  men  for  a condition  which 
shall  newer  ensue,  there  is  a better  life — a life  of  perfec- 
tion beyond  the  imperfect  present. 

Through  the  influence,  then,  of  agencies  at  present 
existing,  the  soul  may  be  elevated  above  its  present 
corporeal  vehicle,  and  raised  out  of  affinity  with  the 
physical  and  moral  condition  of  things  in  which  it  is 
placed.  Men  may,  and  some  do,  attain  a spiritual 
state  in  this  world,  which  demands,  according  to  the 
laws  of  adaptation,  a better  physical  organization — - 
fitted  to  be  the  instrument  of  a mind  which  has  been 
cultured  into  a better  spiritual  condition  than  the  one 
natural  to  the  genus. 

* “ That  which  is  bom  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh ; and  that  which  is  bom  of 
the  Spirit,  is  spirit.” — Sf.  John^  hi.  6.  Fhilippians,  iii.  .!0,  21. 


142 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


GERMS  OF  A FUTURE  AND  BETTER  LIFE  PERCEPTIBLE  IN  THE 
SPIRITUAL  CONSTITUTION  OF  GOOD  MEN. 

It  is  well  known  to  naturalists  that  Swammerdam, 
by  a process  not  necessary  to  detail  here,  discovered  the 
lineaments  of  the  butterfly  in  the  caterpillar,  even  be- 
fore its  metamorphosis  into  a chrysalis. 

This  fact  has  its  analogy  in  the  spiritual  economy  of 
all  good  men.^^  We  say,  all  good  men,  because  it  is 
true  that  there  are  many  of  the  human  family  who 
possess  an  inoperative  instinct  of  immortality,  but  in 
whose  bosoms  no  spiritual  insight  can  discover  the  lin- 
eaments of  a future  life.  We  usa  the  analogy,  there- 
fore, only  so  far  as  it  goes.  But  h^we  we  not  in  this 
analogy,  viewed  in  the  light  of  Swamiherdam^  dis- 
covery, a distinct  intimation  of  the  anastasis  of  those 
individuals  of  the  human  family  in  whose  bosoms  are 
found  the  germs  of  a life,  the  intuitions  and  habitudes 
of  which  differ  from  those  of  the  present  existence. 

The  statement  can  not  be  questioned,  that  in  the 
bosoms  of  those  who  are  truly  Christians  there  exist 
the  germs  and  lineaments  of  angelic  life.  A new  and 
iistinct  class  of  affections,  hopes,  and  aspirations  exist ; 

* It  was  ascertained  by  Raumer  that  an  injury  inflicted  upon  the 
chrysalis  produces  a defect  in  the  future  fly.  And  those  who  have  ob- 
served knQw  that  in  many  species  the  greater  number  of  nymphas  utterly 
'perish  in  their  own  pupce. 


COEPOREAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  143 

or  rather,  the  affections  and  asperations  are  detached 
measurably  from  earthly  objects,  and  exercised  upon 
new  objects  of  life  and  love. 

• The  manner  in  which  the  lineaments  of  the  butter- 
fly are  attached  to,  or  detached  from,  the  body  of  the 
‘aterpillar,  is  a process  which  can  not  be  observed  ; 
neither  can  we  discriminate  in  regard  to  the  attach- 
ment to,  and  detachment  of,  the  new  life  from  our 
earthly  hearts  and  habits  : but  one  exists  as  really  as 
the  other.  New  appetites  are  developed,  which  are 
satisfied  only  with  spiritual  things.  The  conscience 
recognizes  new  obligations,  which  are  of  a spiritual 
character.  There  are  new  hopes  and  fears,  and.  a new 
direction  of  the  will.  So  that,  as  a matter  of  fact,  the 
moral  powers  of  the  soiil  are  becoming  detached  from 
earthly  things  as  their  supreme  good,  while  they  are 
simultaneously  developing  themselves  into  the  form 
and  features  of  a new  life. 

THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  IS  PLEDGED  FOR  THE  FUTURE 
AND  BETTER  LIFE  OF  GOOD  MEN. 

There  is  another  induction  in  this  argument  which 
connects  it  with  the  moral  character  of  Grod,  and  to  a 
mind  possessed  of  moral  culture  it  will  have  a high  de- 
gree of  conclusn  eness.  The  constitutional  instinct 
which  Grod  gives  to  the  insect  becomes  operative  in  the 


144 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


insect  itself^  and  secures  for  it  the  future  metamorpho- 
sis. The  instinct  in  the  animal  leads  it  to  a prepara- 
tion for  the  future  life,  and  the  constitutional  instinct 
given  by  the  Creator  verifies  his  truthfulness  by  the 
result  which  ensues. 

The  earth-born  worm,  which  weaves  for  itself  a wind 
ing-sheet,  bids  farewell  to  its  present  constitution  and 
instincts,  and  enters  a chrysalis  as  its  grave,  can  not  be 
supposed  to  have  more  knowledge  than  man,  in  the 
same  circumstances,  of  the  process  of  transmutation 
which  issues  in  a new  life.  The  two  facts  are  palpable. 
God  gives  the  instihot,  and  God  vouchsafes  the  result 
of  the  preparation  producodr  by  that  instinct. 

Now,  in  men  is  found  this  instinct  of  a future  life, 
and  in  good  men  it  becomes  operative.  It  assumes  the 
forms  of  hope,  aspiration,  and  volition,  which  actuate 
them  to  a preparation  for  life  beyond  the  grave.  And 
if  men  do  not  regard  during  life  the  instinct  of  prep- 
aration for  the  future  life,  then,  if  they  approach 
death  in  a state  of  sanity,  conscience  unfailingly 
charges  them  with  a neglect  or  betrayal  of  their  spirit- 
ual interests. 

Now  associate  these  facts.  The  instinct  of  a futur 
life  actually  exists  in  man.  It  leads  good  men  to  pre- 
pare for  life  beyond  the  grave.  In  the  bosoms  of  good 
men  are  found  distinct  and  clearly-defined  elements  of 


CORPOEEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  145 


the  angelic  constitution  ; that  is^  life  cherished  by  love, 
and  exercised  upon  spiritual  objects.  Then,  as  God 
does  not  disappoint  the  instinct  where  it  has  been  op- 
erative in  the  lowest  of  his  creatures,  but  crowns  the 
preparation  with  fruition  in  a higher  life,  can  we  sup- 
pose that  a constitutional  conviction,  producing  alike 
preparation  in  good  men,  will  not  terminate  in  like 
manner  ? Will  not  the  Maker  verify  the  conviction 
begotten  by  himself,  and  upon  which  his  highest  earth- 
ly creatures  have  acted  ? God  is  true  and  our 
faith  may  rise  to  assurance  that  the  good  man^s  mortal 
life  terminates  at  the  commencement  of  an  existence 
of  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.^^ 


OUR  CONCLUSION  AUTHORIZED  BY  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES. 

This  conclusion,  we  think,  is  verified  by  the  teaching 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  The  tone  and  tenor  of 
the  New  Testament  on  this  subject  have  not  been  fully 
appreciated ; perhaps  not  fully  understood.  The  cru- 
cifixion of  the  fiesh  the  putting  on  of  the  new 
man the  groaning'^  in  the  present  condition  to 
which  nature  is  subject : — what  mean  these  and  similar 
inspired  utterances  in  the  Scriptures  ? What  is  the 
import  of  the  apostle's  word,  when  he  says  that  he  ac- 
counts all  temporal  things  but  loss,  and  struggles  ^Gf 

1 


146 


TRANSITION  FROM  THE 


by  any  means  be  may  attain  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  Did  he  not  seek,  with  intelligent  aim,  that 
moral  condition  in  which  the  appetencies  of  the  soul 
would  demand  a resurrection  body,  more  perfect  than 
the  present,  and  adapted  to  accomplish  the  will  of  the 
^oul  in  the  higher  moral  condition  to  which  the  apostle 
noped  to  attain  ? The  preceding  passages,  and  those 
of  similar  import  in  the  New  Testament,  certainly 
sustain  the  c\nclusion  to  which  our  course  of  thought 
upon  the  processes  and  analogy  of  nature  has  brought 
us. 

We  have  no  data  to  determine  accurately  the  period 
of  the  consummation.  Neither  prophetic  symbols  nor 
natural  indices  can  direct  us  to  a specific  period  in  the 
future.  Centuries  may  yet  be  consumed  in  the  process ; 
but  still  the  fact,  we  think,  is  indubitable,  that  man  is 
exhausting  the  materia?^  and  filling  the  capacities  of 
his  present  limited  condition,  and  advancing  slowly, 
but  certainly,  to  the  ultimatum  of  his  development  in 
the  present  state.  This  being  attained  at  some  un- 

* Calculations  have  been  made  to  show  that  the  coal-fields  of  Grreat 
Britain  will  not  last  forever,  and  there  are  certainly  sufficient  data  to  ap- 
prise us  that  the  foundations  of  British  commercial  ascendency  will  be 
seriously  'Undermined  in  some  most  important  localities,  at  a period  not  in- 
calculably distant.  In  the  United  States  the  supply  may  seem  inexhaust- 
ible ; but  the  extraordinary  demand  and  consumption  which  wiU  ensue 
ere  long  will  cause  a reduction  of  the  product  of  American  coal-fie’ds,  the 
rapidity  of  which  can  not  now  be  imagined. 


CORPOKEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  147 


known  point  in  the  coming  future,  the  final  end  of  the 
present  constitution  of  things  is  gained,  and  the  catas- 
trophe which  is  to  change  the  present  into  a higher 
material  and  spiritual  economy  will  surely  ensue.  ^^We, 
therefore,'  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness.'' 

GOD  AS  REVEALED  BY  THE  PERFECT  MORAL  FUTURE  WHICH 
IS  YET  TO  BE. 

Having  noticed  the  indications  seen  in  the  nature  of 
man,  which  point  to  moral  progress  in  the  future,  we 
close  with  a brief  reference  to  a cognate  subject— 
cations  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  Godj  seen  in  the 
human  mind. 

In  the  nature  of  man  we  reach  the  apex  of  a column, 
from  which  the  being  and  moral  excellence  of  the 
Creator  are  distinctly  perceptible.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  re-write  in  this  place  what  has  already  been  said  so 
ably  by  the  great  masters  in  natural  theology.  It  has 
been  made  plain  that  the  moral  nature  of  man  fur- 
nishes the  most  clear  and  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 

* 2 Peter,  iii.  1 3.  See  also  Ohalmer’s  sermon  on  the  'New  Heavens  and 
the  New  Earth.  We  argue  for  the  import  of  this  phrase,  whether  the 
future  perfect  be  attained  on  the  present  globe  or  elsewhere. 

The  Scriptures  teach  that  the  soul  will  survive,  and  fhe  earth  will  sur- 
vive, but  that  the  body  of  both  will  be  changed  or  new-created. 


148 


TEANSITION  FROM  THE 


moral  character  of  God.  Man  in  his  present  state^  con- 
sidered in  his  capabilities  rather  than  his  character^ 
vindicates  the  moral  character  of  the  Creator,  both  in 
the  past  and  present.  Before  man  was  created,  the 
phenomena  of  nature  furnished  scarcely  any  evidence 
of  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Divine  Being.  But  in 
capabilities  of  man^s  nature  when  properly  cul- 
tured, and  in  the  perfection  to  which  the  moral  crea- 
tion is  tending,  we  may  see  the  Creator  clothed  in  the 
glory  of  his  moral  attributes  : — The  supremacy  of 
conscience,  the  fact  that  the  highest  good  of  man  is 
found  in  love  to  God  as  supreme,  and  to  man  as  a 
brother ; the  fact  that  spiritual  peace  and  blessing  are 
connected  with  benevolent  exercises,  while  unrest  and 
evil  are  the  concomitants  of  malevolence ; the  fact  that 
right  loving  produces  as  a sequent  right  living ; and 
that  these,  being  declared  by  revelation,  are  now 
known  by  experience  to  be  the  conditions  of  man’s 
chief  good ; the  great  fact  that  man’s  greatest  good  as 
a being  arises  from  moral  goodness  in  exercise — assure 
us,  beyond  a doubt,  that  the  Maker  possesses  in  per- 
fection the  moral  goodness  in  which  man,  as  a creature, 
can  alone  find  his  chief  end. 

The  mind  of  the  designer  certainly  includes  the  idea 
of  the  whole  design,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
There  is  in  every  plan  originated  by  Intelligence  a con- 


•lOKPOKEAL  TO  THE  SPIRITUAL.  149 

nection  between  all  tbe  parts  and  the  final  end  of  the 
whole.  The  process  of  creation  is  merely  the  carrying 
out  in  time  the  divine  idea  existing  from  the  begin- 
ning ; hence  the  moral  nature  of  man,  in  its  perfection, 
was  from  the  beginning  in  the  Divine  Mind. 

We  have  seen  that  the  principles  of  progress,  verified 
by  all  the  past,  and  the  moral  character  of  God,  as 
that  character  is  exhibited,  especially  in  his  last  and 
highest  creature  upon  earth,  affirm  the  perfection  of 
humanity  in  the  time  to  come.  We  may  assume,  then, 
that  end  as  accomplished  in  the  resurrection,  and 
predicate  a perfect  man  as  the  creation  of  God  ; then 
looking  at  the  perfect  being  which  will  crown,  as  a 
final  result,  the  work  of  creation,  we  learn  glorious 
things  concerning  the  great  Author : — humanity  is  per- 
fected ; man  is  a “ living  soul”  united  with  a perfect 
body,  which  is  adapted  to  actualize  all  the  volitions  of 
a perfect  mind.  The  reason  perceives  the  true  rela- 
tions of  things.  Conscience  is  enthroned.  The  affec- 
tions are  pure  and  influence  the  will.  The  Highest 
and  Best  Being  is  loved  supremely,  and  finite  beings 
impartially.  The  physical  conditions  of  the  earth  har- 
monize with  the  perfect  in  its  inhabitants.  The  law  of 
progress  is  fulfilled — God’s  attributes  are  vindicated — 
the  moral  finite  is  perfect  on  the  perfect  earth,  and  the 
moral  infinite  is  perfect  over  all. 


150 


TBANSITIONj  ETC. 


In  such  a creation,  which  the  law  of  progress,  the 
character  of  man,  and  the  character  of  God,  assure  us 
is  to  be,  the  attributes  of  the  Infinite  One  will  be  re- 
flected as  from  a mirror.  The  mind  of  the  perfect  man 
will  be  conscious  of  the  Divine  impression  upon  the 
disc  of  his  soul.  Perfected  nature  will  proclaim  by  a 
voice,  sounding  firom  the  beginning  on  to  the  final  end 
— God  exists  ; supkeme,  and  wise,  and  goop  1 


BOOK  TWO. 

OF  MAN  AND  HIS  EKSPONSIBILITIES, 

CONSrOEBED  IN  CONNECTION  WITH 


DIYINB  LAW  AND  DIVINE  REVELATION. 


LAW 


AND  LOVE  AKE  ONE  IN  GOD. 


THE  AUTHOR 


r 


INTEODUCTION. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  for  men  to  separate  tlie  out- 
ward exhibition  of  Christianity  which  they  see  about 
them  from  New  Testament  Christianity^  as  it  is  re- 
vealed in  the.  life  and  teachings  of  the  Christ  and  his 
apostles.  It  is  a first  and  natural  bias  of  the  mind  to 
conclude  that  the  prevalent  conduct  and  character  of 
professors  of  religion  give  a correct  impression  of  the 
spirit  and  practice  required  by  the  Gospel. 

When  we  remember,  too,  that  some  of  our  own 
dearest  friends,  in  whom  we  have  the  utmost  confi- 
dence, and  with  them  many  of  the  best  men  of  our 
times,  are  enrolled  as  disciples  of  Christ,  in  some  Chris- 
tian denomination,  our  impulse  to  take  the  Churches 
of  our  times— especially  those  Churches  in  which  we 
have  most  confidence — as  the  exponents  of  true  Chris- 
tian practice,  becomes  strong  and  decisive.  Many  in- 
quirers for  truth — especially  skeptical  inquirers— often 
forget  what  they  should  always  remember,  that  the 
best  Christians  are  often  conscious  of  falling  below  the 
spirit  and  self-denying  life  required  by  the  Eedeemer, 
and  that  the  mass  of  the  professing  world  is  as  dark- 
ness compared  with  the  Gospel  light. 

Now,  because  of  the  conviction  before  mentioned, 


154 


INTKODUCTION. 


when  evidence  has  heen  adduced  which  leads  a man  to 
inquire  seriously  concerning  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
Christian  religion,  he  naturally  turns  to  the  Churches, 
and  seeks  in  them  an  illustration  of  the  principles  and 
practice  which  the  Grospel  requires,  and  his  decision 
concerning  the  truth  of  Christianity  is  often  influenced 
decisively  by  the  imperfect  lives  of  Christian  profess- 
ors. These  he  takes  as  an  exponent  of  the  Christian 
system,  instead  of  that  active  benevolence  and  exalted 
purity  which  would  be  the  true  product  of  perfect  con- 
formity to  the  example  of  Christ. 

It  will  be  readily  perceived,  therefore,  that  just  so 
far  as  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  Churches  are 
not  conformed  to  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel,  the  man 
who  takes  these  as  an  illustration  of  what  the  Gospel 
is,  will  have  his  convictions  of  the  nature  of  true  relig- 
ion perplexed  and  perverted.  This  would  be  especially 
true  in  minds  not  conversant  with  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Hence,  in  Papal  countries,  a corrupt  Church  repels  the 
reason  by  claiming  to  be  the  representative  of  Divine 
Truth ; and  thus  infldelity  becomes  prevalent,  and 
skepticism  is  in  one  sense  true  to  reason,  while  it  rejects 
as  falsehood  the  religion  of  the  State.  And  hence  in 
all  countries,  Protestant  or  Papal,  those  claiming  to  be 
disciples  of  Christ,  whether  they  be  teachers  or  laymen, 
who  come  to  be  ministered  unto  and  not  to  minister,"^ 
exert  an  evil  influence  upon  inquiring  minds. 

Is  it  too  much  to  say,  that  while  we  are  sure  that  the 
best  men  in  all  ages  have  been  made  so  by  faith  in 
Christ,  and  while  the  truly  good  men  of  our  own  age 
are  undoubtedly  found  among  professing  Christians; 


INTKODUCTION. 


155 


^ yet;  if  an  angel  who  understood  the  New  Testament 
were  to  look  upon  the  earth  for  the  first  time;  he  would 
scarcely  conceive  that  many  of  the  Church  formS;  and 
Church  offenses  against  the  plain  Scriptures;  which  are 
prevalent  in  our  own  timeS;  could  he  predicated  upon 
the  simple;  self-denying  doctrines  and  practice  incul- 
cated in  the  Grospel  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ? 

We  shall  reach  in  the  next  paragraph  an  aspect  of 
the  subject  which  will  relieve  our  minds  from  any  pain- 
ful sensations  which  these  discriminations  may  have 
produced.  We  make  them  because  we  are  anxious  that 
the  re-ader  of  this  volume  should  look  at  the  excel- 
lency of  the  glory  of  God;  as  it  is  revealed  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ;^'  and  not  have  his  conceptions  of  truth 
and  duty  perverted  by  the  imperfect  exhibitions  of 
Christian  character  which  he  sees  about  him.  Our 
book  does  not  aim  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  God 
revealed  in  any  particular  church  creed  is  perfect;  nor 
that  the  Christianity  exhibited  by  the  worldly  churches 
of  our  times  is  divine.  We  affirni;  and  shall  prove;  that 
the  God  revealed  in  Christ  is  perfect ^ and  that  the  Chris-- 
tianity  of  the  New  Testament  is  divine. 

When  rightly  considered;  the  imperfections  of  human 
practice  under  the  Gospel  would  lead  inquiring  men  to 
a very  different  conclusion  from  that  at  which  they 
usually  arrive.  It  is  one  of  the  best  evidences  of  the 
purity  and  power  of  our  holy  religion;  that  its  teachings 
are  still  so  far  in  advance  of  the  conceptions  and  prac- 
tice of  the  world;  and  even  of  the  greater  number  of  its 
professed  friends.  The  Gospel  came  to  the  earth  in  an 
age  of  intellectual  light;  but  of  great  moral  deteriora- 


166 


INTRODUCTION. 


tion ; and  tlie  inspired  apostles  were  not  all  in  their 
graves  before  its  pure  doctrines  were  perverted  by  the 
sophisms,  and  its  practice  corrupted  by  the  bad  prin- 
ciples of  some  of  those  who  professed  to  receive  and 
teach  its  heavenly  truths.  The  fact  that  men  fell 
below  the  j)ure  conceptions  of  the  Grospel  the  moment 
that  inspiration  ceased,  is  certainly  a striking  evidenc< 
of  its  heaven-born  purity.  And  the  additional  fac"* 
that  the  vital  power  of  the  Grospel  in  the  souls  of  men 
has  increased  from  the  time  that  the  Bible  was  unvailed 
during  the  Eeformation,  up  to  our  own  times,  and  that 
the  pure  Scriptures  still  continue  to  dispel  the  darkness 
which  began  to  gather  upon  them  at  the  death  of  the 
apostles,  is  a testimony  which  produces  assurance  that 
there  is  inherent  divinity  in  the  Christian  Eevelation, 
and  that,  empowered  by  the  Divine  presence  and 
agency,  it  will,  in  the  end,  work  out  the  great  process 
which  will  bring  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth, 
peace,  and  good  will  to  men.^^ 

Leaving,  then,  the  imperfect  example  of  professing 
Christians,  learned  questions  about  the  Jewish  Hag- 
iographa,  and  other  things  which  do  not  relate  to 
the  sanctifying  central  truths  of  the  Gospel,  to  be  dis- 
cussed by  others,  and  remembering  that  inane  or  dog- 
matic disquisitions  about  the  Gospel  is  not  the  Gospel, 
let  the  reader  turn  away  his  mind  in  charity  from  what 
he  may  deem  unreasonable,  unscriptural,  or  selfish  in 
the  opinions  or  practice  of  the  churches,  and  examine 
with  me  the  question  of  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
Gospel  upon  its  own  merits  and  adaptations. 


CHAPTER  I. 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE  NECESSITY  AND  KULE  OF  LAW. 

God  governs  all  things  by  laws  appropriate  to  their 
respective  natures.  The  laws  which  govern  physical 
phenornena  are  written  in  treatises  on  the  different 
branches  of  natural  philosophy.  These  have  been  re- 
ferred to  in  the  preceding  book.  Mental  and  ethical 
philosophy  relate  to  the  laws  of  maff  s intellectual  and 
moral  constitution' ; and  although  definitions  are  not 
settled  in  this  department  of  study,  yet  valuable  at- 
tainments have  been  made  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
laws  which  govern  in  the  mental  and  moral  depart- 
ments of  the  creation.  If  there  be  any  province  of 
nature  concerning  which  we  know  nothing  of  the  laws 
which  relate  to  its  adjusted  parts  and  processes,  yet  we 
deduce  enough  by  analogy  to  know  that  there  are  laws 
governing  in  the  unexplored  regions  of  creation,  as  cer- 
tainly as  in  those  departments  which  we  have  investi- 
gated. The  order  of  the  universe  is  maintained,  the 
relations  of  its  different  parts  adjusted,  and  the  exist- 
ence of  the  whole,  and  of  each  part  in  particular, 


168 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


preserved  by  law.  Law  is  a necessity  of  things ; ne- 
cessary in  order  to  process,  harmony,  and  stability,  in 
any  system.  The  laws  of  nature,  as  a code,  are  so  ad- 
justed with  each  other  that  no  one  could  be  changed 
without  affecting  the  entire  system.  There  are  links 
of  law  which  bind  the  parts  and  processes  of  the  uni- 
verse from  an  atom  to  a system,  from  the  lowest  mani- 
festation of  life  to  the  mightiest  created  intellect. 
The  laws  of  the  Creator  are  universal  and  perfect. 
There  is  no  progression  in  a law.  Other  things  being 
the  same  and  equal,  the  measure  and  rule  of  law  are 
the  same  forever.  Man  may  not  calculate  with  per- 
fect accuracy  the  moment  when  the  shadow  will  strike 
the  disc  of  an  eclipsed  orb ; but  the  error  lies  not  in 
the  operation  of  the  law  governing  the  relative  bodies, 
but  in  some  imperfection  in  the  calculation,  or  in  some 
related  influence  not  taken  into  the  account.  That 
law  is  cognate  with  organization,  and  the  basis  of  order 
in  the  universe,  will  be  admitted  by  all  who  read  these 
pages.  Law,  then,  is  a necessity  of  things — ^necessary 
to  the  identity  and  existence  of  the  several  parts  of  the 
creation,  and  to  the  harmony  of  the  universe  as  a 
whole. 

PENALTY  A NECESSITY  OF  LAW. 

Law  is  a necessity  of  things,  and  penalty  is  a neces^ 
sity  of  law  This  second  afllrmation,  although  equally 


NECESSITY  AND  RULE  OF  LAW.  159 


true  may  not  be  assented  to  so  readily  as  the  preceding 
one.  Sometimes  there  is  not  a clear  apprehension  of 
the  difference  between  the  necessity  of  penalty  as  a 
final  issue^  and  the  necessity  of  penalty  immediately 
executed  upon  the  transgressor.  It  is  not  affirmed  that 
penalty  is  always  immediate  upon  the  transgression  of 
law,  nor  that,  where  transgression  has  occurred,  the 
penalty  may  not  be  counteracted.  What  we  do  say  is, 
that  every  law  has  its  penalty.  Natural  penalty,  or 
rather  the  penalty  natural  to  law^  is  progressive  de- 
rangement tending  to  ultimate  destruction.  If  disor- 
der be  not  immediately  destructive,  then,  during  the 
deranged  action  which  follows  departure  from  law,  the 
subject  by  interposition,  as  we  shall  see,  may  be  re- 
covered to  obedience  ; but  if  not  recovered,  the  de- 
struction of  the  subject,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  neces-- 
sary^  and  therefore  certain. 


REASONS  WHY  PENALTY  IS  A NECESSITY  OF  LAW. 

We  wish  to  reiterate  and  illustrate  this  form  of  ex- 
pression until  the  two  cognate  truths  become  lucid  and 
settled  convictions.  We  can  perceive  enough  of  the 
nature  and  relations  of  things  to  know  that  penalty  lies 
not  wholly,  nor  perhaps  mostly,  against  the  subject 
that  transgresses  the  law.  The  necessity  of  penalty  is 


160 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


connected  with  the  general  good.  God  has  created 
things^  as  we  have  noticed^  in  relationship  to  each 
other^  and  the  restoration  or  destruction  of  a trans- 
gressing subject  is  necessary  to  the  harmony  and  safety 
of  the  whole. 

In  the  realms  both  of  matter  and  mind  there  are 
facts  that  elucidate  this  subject : the  physical  will  illus- 
trate the  moral. If  a planet  should  shoot  madly 
from  its  sphere/'  its  destruction  ‘ would  be  necessary, 
not  so  much  on  its  own  account  (if  we  may  so  speak), 
as  on  account  of  its  deranging  influence  upon  other 
bodies.  When  it  lost  its  place  and  balance  among  the 
spheres,  it  passed  into  a condition  of  disorder  which 
would  necessarily  terminate  in  its  destruction.  This^ 
however,  would  not  be  the  greatest  evil.  In  its  disor- 
der it  would  necessarily  encroach  upon  the  orbits  of 

* “ The  Author  of  the  realm  of  spirits  is  likewise  the  Author  of  the 
realm  of  nature : both  kingdoms  develop  themselves  by  the  same  laws. 
Wherefore  those  comparisons,  which  the  Redeemer  derives  from  the 
realm  of  nature,  are  not  mere  comparisons  serving  to  throw  light  upon  the 
topic  in  hand ; they  are  inward  [profound]  analogies,  and  nature  is  a wiU 
ness  for  the  realm  of  spirits.  This  truth  floats  dimly  in  the  allegorizing 
Cabalists,  and  also  is  prevalent  in  Swedenborg,  who  did  not  lack  in  the 
apprehension  of  the  principle,  but  only  in  the  application  of  the  principle. 
Their  principle  was — i.  e,,  ‘ every  thing 
that  is  in  the  kingdom  of  the  earth,  is  found  also  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.’  [Sohar  ad  Gen.^  f.  91,  c.  362].  Were  it  not  so,  those  compari- 
sons would  not  have  the  power  of  conviction  which  they  do  exercise  over 
every  unperverted  mind.” — ^Yide  Professor  Tholuck  of  Halle  on  the  Vine 
Emblem  in  John  xv.  rendered  by  Kaufmom, 


NECESSITY  AND  RULE  OF  LAW.  161 


other  bodies,  derange  the  whole  system  to  which  it  be- 
longed, and,  if  not  destroyed,  it  would  involve  the 
whole  in  eventual  ruin.  When  it  left  its  prescribed 
place,  then,  in  view  of  the  safety  of  other  parts  of  the 
system,  its  destruction  would  become  necessary.  The 
very  laws  which  preserved  it  in  its  place  would  cause 
its  destruction  out  of  its  place  ; and  in  order  to  save  it, 
God  would  have  to  destroy  all  the  physical  laws  of  the 
system  (and  then  it  would  not  be  saved),  or  adopt  some 
expedient  to  bring  it  back  and  balance  the  injury 
which  its  aberration  had  occasioned  to  the  members  of 
the  solar  family.  Destruction  is  a necessity  when  any 
member  of  a system  persistently  violates  the  laws  of 
the  system. 

So  an  animal  which  violates  its  instincts  departs  not 
only  from  the  laws  of  adaptation  which  secure  its  own 
happiness,  but,  as  God,  has  filled  all  departments  of 
nature  with  body  or  life  appropriate  to  the  several  con- 
ditions, when  an  animal  leaves  the  sphere  which  the 
law  of  its  instincts  prescribes,  it  necessarily  impinges 
upon  the  province  of  other  things,  and  the  good  of  the 
whole  requires  its  destruction,  and  the  nature  of  things 
secures  the  infiiction  of  the  penalty. 

We  say,  the  good  of  the  whole  requires  its  destruction. 
If  the  ants  were  to  leave  the  earth,  forget  their  in- 
stincts, and  live  upon  the  pollen  and  vital  germs  of  the 


162 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


flowerS;  the  bees  would  die,  and  fruit  would  cease  to 
exist  throughout  the  world.  The  ants,  then,  must 
either  be  destroyed,  or  bees  and  fruits,  and  every  thing 
which  lives  upon  fruits,  must  suffer. 

We  said,  the  nature  of  things  secures  the  ivfliction  of 
the  penalty.  The  nature  of  the  circumstances  is  such 
that  the  ant  must  provide  food  and  shelter  for  the  win- 
ter, but  of  the  germs  of  flowers  she  could  not  make  a 
winter^s  store  ; the  ant,  therefore,  which  had  left  its 
own  province,  as  well  as  the  bee  which  had  not,  would 
live  a miserable  life  for  a brief  season,  and  then  die  of 
chill  and  starvation.  Thus  Grod's  laws  are  self-exe- 
cuted. The  nature  of  every  thing  is  adapted  to  cer- 
tain conditions  ; but  the  same  laws  which  preserve  the. 
life  of  any  thing  in  its  own  place,  will  destroy  that  life 
if  it  passes  its  prescribed  limits. 

ANOTHER  REASON  WHY  PENALTY  IS  A NECESSTY  OF  LAW. 

Let  US  look  further  at  the  last  thoughts  in  the  pre- 
ceding section.  Penalty  is  not  only  a necessity  of  law, 
because  without  order  organization  would  cease  ; but 
it  is  a necessity  of  law  in  the  same  sense  that  cold  is 
the  absence  of  heat.  Obedience  to  law  is  the  condition 
upon  which  the  safety  and  life  of  things  depend.  The 
constitution  o^  each  being  is  adapted  to  the  conditions 


NECESSITY  AND  RULE  OF  LAW.  163 

in  which  it  was  created  to  live.  In  its  appropriate  con- 
ditions there  are  provisions  for  its  wants  and  sources  of 
happiness  for  its  enjoyment.  So  far  as  there  is  design 
in  law,  then,  it  indicates  benevolence,  which  binds  by 
law  every  thing  in  the  condition  where  its  happiness  is 
procured  and  where  its  existence  aids  in  producing  the 
happiness  of  other  things.  Law  and  love  are  one  in 
•God.  . A beaver's  instincts  and  conformations  are 
adapted  to  the  water  ; but  if  it  should  stray  into  the 
desert,  where  the  ostrich  is  at  home,  it  would  meet 
death  by  protracted  suffering  or  by  the  violence  of 
other  animals.  The  bee,  by  obeying  the  laws  of  its 
life,  not  only  secures  appropriate  stores  for  itself,  but, 
by  distributing  the  pollen  of  flowers,  it  aids  in  the 
germination  of  fruits  and  gives  variety  to  the  flora  of 
the  world.  Thus,  in  obedience  to  the  specific  laws  of 
each  species,  each  individual  not  only  finds  happiness 
and  life,  but  aids  in  the  happiness  and  life  of  the 
whole.  To  depart  from  law,  therefore,  as  necessarily 
secures  suffering  and  final  death,  as  to  depart  from 
good  secures  evil 

• 

TO  THE  DISOBEDIENT  PARDON  IS  IMPOSSIBLE. 


To  the  disobedient  the  laws  of  the  universe  are  inex- 
orable. The  law  permits  no  transgression,  and  pro- 


164 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


vides  for  no  pardon.  In  so  far  as  law  would  allow,  of 
transgression^  it  would  annul  itself  and  produce  evil. 
A single  transgression  places  the  trespassers  in  the 
road  to  ruin  and  pardon  in  itself  can  not^  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  prevent  or  remit  the  penalty.  Hap- 
piness and  life  being  the  result  of  obedience,  as  we 
nave  seen,  pardon  without  a return  of  the  transgressor 
to  the  sphere  of  obedience  would  be  a form  without 
effect.  Obedience  is  the  condition  of  safety  and  life  ; 
therefore,  pardon  without  restoration  of  the  trans- 
gressor to  obedience  is  absurd  and  impossible  in  a sys- 
tem governed  by  law. 


IGNORANCE  DOES  NOT  AVERT  THE  PENALTY  OF  NATURAL  LAW. 

Law  is  inexorable  in  another  sense  than  the  one  ex- 
hibited above.  In  all  cases  below  moral  law  the  pen- 
alty attaches  to  the  transgressor,  without  reference  to 
the  manner  or  cause  of  the  violation.  Whether  the 
transgressor  be  ignorant  or  enlightened — ^whether  the 
act  be  done  wilfully  or  of  necessity — no  matter  in  what 
way  the  subject  passes  from  under  law,  it  passes  to 
penalty.  Many  animals  are  born  suffering,  and  their 
life  is  one  protracted  pain  until  the  coming  on  of  the 
death-agony.  In  all  such  cases  there  is  some  struct- 
ural derangement,  some  organic  injury,  which  obstructs 


NECESSITY  AND  RULE  OF  LAW.  165 

or  destroys  the  usual  operations  of  some  function  of 
the  body. 

The  family  who^  either  from  ignorance  or  necessity, 
transgresses  the  la^s  of  health,  will  suffer  the  penalty 
as  certainly  as  though  they  had  willingly  indulged  in 
wrong  habits.  If  they  eat  injurious  food,  or  breathe  a 
tainted  atmosphere,  they  will  suffer,  no  matter  in  what 
circumstances  the  evil  occurred.  Innocent  descendants, 
for  many  generations,  often  suffer  evils  induced  by  the 
transgressions  of  their  parents.  Law  is  more  sacred 
than  life ; it  must  be  preserved,  notwithstanding  many 
individuals,  innocent  of  all  wrong  in  the  case,  and  often 
without  an  act  of  their  own,  suffer  intensely,  even  unto 
death.  Without  the  law  no  such  individuals  could 
exist,  and  the  suffering  of  many  individuals  is  less  than 
the  abrogation  of  the  law,  which  would  procure  the 
destruction  of  the  whole.  And  furthermore,  the  abro- 
gation, suspension,  or  modification  of  a law,  is  impos- 
sible, because  each  law  is  related  to  all  other  laws,  and 
the  power  which  affected  a single  law  would  affect  the 
whole  constitution  of  things  connected  with  it. 

THE  FIRST  VIOLATION  PRODUCES  A TENDENCY  TO  DESTRUCTION 
IN  WHATEVER  BREAKS  ESTABLISHED  LAW. 

When  the  first  transgression  has  occurred,  there  is 
no  strength  or  influence  in  the  aberrating  subject  to 


166 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 

restore  itself.  If  a planet  were  to  depart  from  its  orbit, 
the  first  departure  would  give  it  a tendency  to  depart 
forever.  As  a weight  upon  an  inclined  plane,  the  first 
movement  creates  a momentum,  which  will  increase 
until  the  movement  is  stopped  by  an  opposing  force. 
If  one  cog  becomes  broken  in  a single  wheel,  every 
revolution  jars  the  whole  machinery,  and  widens  the 
fracture,  until  the  injury  is  repaired  or  until  it  becomes 
irreparable.  One  departure  from  rectitude,  under  all 
laws,  makes  another  more  easy,  and  every  departure 
increases  the  difficulty  of  a restoration  to  order.  The 
very  laws,  as  we  have  noticed,  which  hold  a subject  to 
happy  obedience,  operate  for  destruction  where  there 
has  been  transgression.  The  earth  is  now  balanced  in 
our  system,  and  moves  in  obedience  to  centrifugal  and 
centripetal  forces ; but  if  it  were  to  move  from  its  orbit 
the  balance  would  be  broken,  and  the  disproportionate 
or  illegal  action  of  the  two  forces  would  work  its  de- 
struction. This  would  be  certain  unless  a sympathy 
latent  fin  the  whole  system,  or  a power  above  the  sys- 
tem, were  to  accomplish  its  restoration 

RESTORATION  OF  THE  DISORDERED  SUBJECT  POSSIBLE  WITHIN 
A CERTAIN  LIMIT. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  action  of  a subject  out  of 
obedience  to  law  tends  to  increase  derangement,  and 


NECESSITY  AND  KCJLE  OF  LAW.  167 


while  there  is  no  remedy  for  the  derangement  in  the 
aberrating  subject  itself^  it  is  likewise  true  that  there 
is  a reparative  or  recuperative  energy  in  every  system 
as  a whole^  which^  if  called  into  activity^  may  effect  re- 
covery. The  physical  conformation  of  an  animal  will, 
to  a certain  extent,  and  within  certain  limits,  adapt 
itself  to  circumstances  of  location  and  climate.  If  one 
part  of  the  body  be  injured,  there  is  a vis  vitcs  in  the 
whole,  by  which  sound  parts  contribute  to  the  recovery 
of  parts  diseased  or  injured.'^  Individuals  may  indulge 
in  vices,  and  as  a consequence  injure  the  health  of  the 
system;  but  if  there  be  a cessation  of  the  evil  habit 
before  the  constitution  is  injured  there  may  be  re- 
covery ; but  this  point  being  passed,  entire  exemption 
from  the  effects  of  the  transgression  becomes  impos- 
sible. A diseased  or  deranged  member  never  cures 
itself  without  compensation  from  other  members. 
^^When  one  member  sufters,  all  suffer  with  it;^"  but 
if  there  be  recuperative  energy  remaining  in  the  sys- 
tem, there  is  a draft  upon  the  whole  to  aid  in  the 
recovery  of  the  part  diseased.  So  in  the  physical  uni- 
verse, aberrations  in  one  part  are  met  by  compensations 
from  others,  and  thus  the  balance  of  the  whole  is  pre- 
served. These  compensations  seem  to  flow  from  what 

* See  “ God  in  Disease,  or  the  Manifestation  Design  in  Morbid  Phe- 
nomena,” by  James  D.  Duncan,  M.D.,  c.  8-10. 


168 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


may  be  called  a sympathetic  principle^  pervading  the 
whole  of  any  system,  or  of  any  distinct  organization, 
and  perhaps  pervading  the  whole  universe  ; and,  as  has 
been  stated,  the  restorative  power  only  extends  to  a 
certain  limit,  beyond  which  the  injury  of  the  aberrat- 
ing subject  is  irremediable.  This  sympathy  pervading 
the  whole  is  often  strikingly  exhibited  in  species  of 

animated  nature.  If  one  animal  is  attacked,  the  cry 

♦ 

of  distress  will  generally  arouse  individuals  of  its  proper 
species,  and  bring  them  to  the  rescue.'^  It  is  the  con- 
servative power  of  the  whole  species  exerted  to  preserve 
the  parts.  This  conservative  or  recuperative  sympathy 
is  an  impartation  of  saving  health'^  from  the  Creator, 
pervading  all  systems,  uniting  the  individuals  of 
species,  and  to  some  extent  affecting  all  objects  of  the 
creation. 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  THOSE  INJURED  BY  THE  TRANSGRESSOR  IS 
ANOTHER  NECESSARY  CONDITION  IN  ORDER  TO  THE  SAFETY 
AND  HAPPINESS  OF  A SYSTEM  WHERE  VIOLATION  OF  LAW  HAS 
OCCURRED. 

When  any  derangement  of  the  order  established  by 
law  takes  place,  either  in  the  animate  or  inanimate 
creation,  it  is  not  only  necessary  that  the  subject  vio- 
lating the  laws  appropriate  to  its  nature  should  be  re- 

* A hybrid,  in  this  and  all  other  respects,  i3  out  of  sympathy  with  all 
species  of  things. 


NECESSITY  AND  KULE  OF  LAW.  169 


covered,  but  it  is  necessary  that  tbe  injuries  which  its 
departures  frOm  law  have  produced  to  other  things 
should  be  repaired. 

We  refer  again  to  a system  where  the  effect  of  law 
on  the  largest  scale,  and  in  its  most  minute  influence, 
can  be  best  appreciated.  If  one  of  the  solar  family 
were  to  leave  its  path,  then,  in  order  to  the  safety  of 
the  system,  it  would  not  only  be  necessary  that  it 
should  be  recovered,  but  likewise  that  all  evil  done  by 
its  aberration  should  be  repaired.  If  it  were  restored, 
while  the  derangement  which  it  had  caused  was  per- 
mitted to  continue,  this  unrepaired  derangement  would 
increase  until  it  had  produced  the  destruction  of  the 
whole  system.  The  law  is  not  made  for  one,  but  for 
many ; and  the  laws  that  pertain  to  one  class  are 
linked  into  those  which  govern  another,  and  when  one 
link  is  broken  the  whole  system  to  which  it  pertains  is 
deranged.  So,  as  we  have  noticed,  if  any  species  of 
animals  were  to  depart  from  its  prescribed  place,  it 
would  remove  other  species,  and  these  again  would  im- 
pinge upon  others,  and  thus  derangement  would  go  on 
carrying  its  evil  influence  through  whole  clashes  of  ani- 
mated life. 

When  the  individuals  of  any  species  are  by  instinct 
destructive  to  others,  there  are  certain  armatures  and 

instruments,  aggressive  and  defensive,  in  creatures, 

8 


170 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


which  are  wisely  balanced  by  the  Creator^  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  individuals^  and  for  destroying  or  preserving 
life;  so  that  the  whole  series  of  species  maintain  a pro- 
portionate adjustment  to  each  other.  But  when  an 
evil  which  violates  the  laws  of  instinct  originates  in  any 
particular  creature  of  a.  specieS;  as  in  the  case  of  a 
rabid  dog,  extermination  must  take  place,  until  every 
living  thing  is  extirpated  which  was  affected  by  the 
noison.  Diseases  produced  by  certain  vices  tend  to 
disseminate  themselves,  and  the  recovery  of  one  set  of 
transgressors  is  of  no  avail  unless  the  infection  be  ex- 
tirpated which  exists  in  the  system  of  others.  The 
transgressor  must  be  recovered,  and  those  affected  by 
him  restored,  before  the  poison  ceases  to  circulate  in 
the  blood  of  the  race.  Two  things,  then,  are  necessary 
in  order  to  the  removal  of  physical  or  organic  derange- 
ment, in  order  to  rectification,  in  all  cases  where  there 
has  been  violation  of  law : first,  the  recovery  of  the 
transgressor  to  obedience ; and  second,  the  removal  of 
the  evil  in  others  which  the  transgressor  had  occa- 
sioned. 

• 

OF  MAN  AS  A SUBJECT  OF  LAW. 

In  tlie  light  of  the  preceding  principles  we  come  to 
consider  the  laws  which  attach  to  man,  and  to  make 
some  preliminary  distinctions  before  noticing  more 


NECESSITY  AND  HOLE  OF  LAW.  171 


particularly  the  moral  law  and  its  relations  to  man  as  a 
subject  of  moral  government.  There  are  at  least  two 
preliminary  discriminations  which  it  is  important  we 
should  make.  Many  persons  of  good  intentions,  claim- 
ing to  he  teachers  of  a true  ^nd  useful  philosophy, 
have,  as  we  think,  erred  themselves,  and  have  misled 
others,  by  not  making  the  discriminations  which  fol- 
low. 

TWO  CLASSES  OF  LAWS  AND  PENALTIES  ATTACH  TO  MAN. 

Man  is  a bifold  being,  he  has  a physical  and  a spirit- 
ual nature.  There  are,  therefore,  two  classes  of  laws 
which  attach  themselves  to  him ; the  one  to  his  or- 
ganic, the  other  to  his  moral  being.  The  laws  which 
relate  to  man^s  animal  organism  are  interwoven  with 
our  mortal  constitution,  and  cease  to  affect  us  at  the 
dissolution  of  the  body.  The  laws  which  relate  to  our 
life  and  happiness,  as  moral  beings,  are  connate  with 
the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  so  long  as  the  soul  lives 
it  must  live  by  them  and  under  them.  The  laws  which 
govern  man — one  class  as  a material,  the  other  as  a 
spiritual  being — are  as  distinct  from  each  other  as  the 
soul  and  the  body.  We  should  keep  this  distinction  in 
mind,  because  the  penalties  for  transgressing  the  or- 
ganic laws,  which  pertain  to  the  animal  economy,  are 


172 


EXPOSITION  OF  THE 


often  so  mingled  witli  tlie  penalties  of  moral  trans- 
gression^ tliat  true  views  of  the  subject  are  obscured.’^ 

PAIN  IS  NOT  ALWAYS  ULTIMATE  PENALTY. 

If  pain  be  considered  penalty,  which  it  may  be  in 
one  sense,  yet  pain  is  not  all  the  penalty  of  transgress- 
ing either  organic  or  moral  law.  It  is  part  of  the  pen- 
alty only,  as  progress  is  part  of  the  result — as  derange- 
ment is  linked  with  disaster.  Pain  indicates  that  there 
is  disease  or  derangement  in  the  system.  If  the  disor- 
der be  removed  by  compensation  from  other  parts  of 
the  system,  or  by  aj)pliances  from  without,  the  pain 
ceases  with  the  removal  of  the  derangement  by  which 
it  was  occasioned.  The  pain  was  neither  the  disease 
nor  the  cure.  A cancer  is  a different  thing  from  the 
pain  which  it  produces.  Often  the  pain  abates  al- 
though there  be  no  remedy  for  the  evil.  Dying ^ thou 
shall  die’’  is  the  penalty  of  transgressing  the  laws  botJi 
of  our  organic  and  moral  nature.  That  is,  derange- 
ment, when  begun,  tends  to  and  will  ultimate  in  death. 
Such,  too,  as  we  shall  see,  is  the  penalty  of  the  moral 
law.  The  nature  and  design  of  all  laws  are  the  samn. 
The  necessity  of  penalty  and  the  nature  of  penalty  are 
the  same  in  all  cases.  The  best  expression  for  penalty 

* As  in. the  works  of  Fowler,  which  contain  some  practical  truth,  with 
many  erroneous  views  an^i  conceited  assumptions. 


NECESSITY  AND  EULE  OF  LAW.  173 


whicli  can  be  formed  is  that  found  in  the  earliest  He- 
brew Scriptures,  and  attached  to  the  first  disobedience 
— Hying,  thou  shalt  die/' 

Let  us,  then,  not  mistake  pain  of  body  or  pain  of 
conscience  for  the  derangement  itself,  which  causes  the 
pain,  or  for  the  final  penalties  of  organic  or  moral  law. 
Pain  often  abates  in  the  body  as  the  strength  of  the 
constitution  diminishes  to  death.  Pain  may  subserve  a 
benevolent  design  ; it  is  admonitory  of  existing  disor- 
der, or  of  penalty  in  progress.  But  the  fact  is  beyond 
dispute  that  death  ensues  as  the  ultimate  penalty^ 
whether  with  or  without  pain,  unless  the  disorder  be 
removed. 

* Gen.  ii.  I*?,  “ Thou  shalt  surely  die.”  [Heb.  Dying ^ thou  shalt  die.l 
From  the  period  of  transgression  a dying  life  is  ordained ; a moral  de- 
rangement, which,  without  rescue,  will  ensue  in  a hopeless  death. . 


CHAPTER  II. 


COJSrCEENING  THE  MOKAL  LAW 

It  lias  been  stated  that  the  nature  and  necessity  of 
law  and  penalty  are  the  same  in  all  cases.  God  is  one^ 
and  all  law  exists  eternally  in  and  by  the  Uncreated 
Mind.  We  shall  now  consider  the  Moral  Law  alone^ 
and  notice  that  the  principles  of  the  foregoing  expo- 
sition are  as  applicable  to  the  Moral  Law  as  to  any 
other  law  by  which  Grod  governs  his  universe. 


NECESSITY,  INVIOLABILITY,  AND  SANCTION  OF  MORAL  LAW. 

If  God  be  a moral  being  and  a moral  governor,  there 
must  be  a moral  law.  We  can  not  suppose  a moral 
governor  without  a moral  law ; in  reason,  the  one  im- 
plies the  other. 

As  the  Supreme  Being  is  the  moral  governor  of  the 
universe,  the  moral  law  can  be  nothing  else  than  an 
expression  of  his  will;  if,  therefore,  the  character  of 


CONOEENING  THE  MOBAL  LAW.  175 

tlie  Divine  Being  be  perfectly  boly  and  immutable,  the 
moral  law  must  be  so. 

Like  other  laws,  the  moral  law  is  inexorable — ^it  can 
not  license  or  pardon  transgression.  To  suppose  that 
the  law  could  permit  sin,  would  he  to  say  either  that 
God  is  unholy,  or  that  he  permitted  what  is  contrary 
to  his  own  will,  which  is  absurd. 

Besides,  if  God  is  benevolent,  he  would  not  license  sin, 
because,  as  we  have  seen,  the  transgression  involves  evil 
to  the  transgressor.  God  would  not,  therefore,  as  a be- 
nevolent being,  permit  sin,  except  as  a part  of  a system 
where  progress  and  compensations  were  introduced,  that 
would  in  the  end  remove  the  evil  or  bring  good  out 
of  it. 

The  characteristic  of  inviolability  in  the  law  is  ad- 
justed to  the  moral  convictions  of  the  beings  who  are 
subject  to  it.  No  one  can,  without  doing  violence  to 
his  reason  and  conscience,  affirm  that  God  ought  to 
make  a law  that  would  license  a single  sin.  The  holy 
inviolability  of  the  law  finds  a sanction  in  the  moral 
constitution  of  every  intelligent  subject  of  God^s  gov- 
ernment. No  sane  man  will  say,  even  in  his  own  case, 
that  God  ought  to  make  a law  that  would  permit  him 
to  commit  a single  transgression. 

Now,  if  God  can  not,  from  the  necessities  of  his 
nature,  make  a law  that  will  permit  sin ; if  he  ought 


176  CONCEBJSriNG  THE  MORAL  LAW. 


not  to  make  sucli  a law,  and  if  he  has  so  constituted 
man  that,  as  a moral  being,  he  can  not  approve  of  such 
a law — then,  the  force  of  all  these  considerations  com- 
bined, puts  the  truth  beyond  question,  that  the  moral 
law  of  God,  like  all  other  laws,  can  not  permit  a single 
transgression.  And,  while  it  allows  of  no  sin,  it  makes 
no  provision  for  pardon.  The  promise  of  life  is  on  the 
one  only  condition  of  perfect  and  perpetual  obedience. 
No  law  can  proclaim  pardon  for  the  transgression  of  its 
own  requirements  without  annulling  itself.  It  may 
provide,  in  some  cases,  for  compensation — as  for  an 
injury  inflicted  a compensation  may  be  rendered  to  the 
person  injured  ; but  to  provide  a pardon  for  the  trans- 
gression of  its  own  precept  is  not  in  the  nature  of  law. 

Besides,  as  in  other  laws,  if  pardon  were  offered  to  a 
sinner  without  obedience,  the  proposition  would  be  pre- 
posterous, and  the  promise  a nullity,  because  God  has 
constituted  the  soul,  as  he  has  all  things  else,  that  life 
is  found  only  in  obedience.  To  pardon  a sinner,  there- 
fore, while  he  continues  a sinner,  is  morally  impossible, 
and  were  it  possible,  in-  any  sense,  under  the  Divine 
government,  it  would  be  without  beneflt  to  man. 


CONCERNING  THE  MORAL  LAW.  177 


MORAL  TRANSGRESSION  TENDS  TO  PENAL  DESTRUCTION. 

As  in  other  instances,  the  first  departure  from  obedi- 
ence in  man  creates  a tendency  to  continued  departing. 
Any  derangement,  either  in  the  physical  or  moral  sys- 
tem is  self-aggravating  and  self-perpetuating,  without 
aid  from  other  parts.  A single  act  of  sin  is  a depart- 
ure from  rectitude,  and  the  departure  strengthens  the 
depraved  tendency.  Sin  enfeebles  man^s  moral  nature. 
The  conservative  or  recuperative  power  of  his  moral 
constitution  grows  less  by  every  act  of  transgression. 
Conscience  becomes  less  potential,  and  the  will  more 
inclined  to  err  ; in  other  words,  the  strength  of  moral 
emotion  is  abated,  and  evil  inclination  strengthened  by 
every  act  of  transgression.  As  the  exercise  of  any 
bodily  member  increases  its  strength,  so  the  exercise  of 
our  moral  faculties,  whether  in  a good  or  bad  direction, 
increases  the  inclination  of  the  will  to  good  or  evil. 
Thus  sin  begets  sin.  The  power  of  sin  over  the  soul 
increases  by  sinning.  This  is  human  experience,  and  it 
agrees  with  human  observation  in  relation  to  the  effect 
of  transgression  in  all  other  cases.  One  sin  puts  the 
soul  in  the  road  to  ruin'"  as  certainly  as  the  first 
movement  of  a weight  down  an  inclined  plane  tends  to 

accelerate  momentum  and  to  prevent  return. 

8^ 


178  COKCEKNING  THE  MORAL  LAW. 


ItECESSITY  OF  THE  DEATH-PENALTY  IN  MORAL  LAW. 

The  death-penalty  exists  in  moral  law  by  the  same 
necessity  that  it  does  in  physical  and  organic  laws.  It 
may  not  be  in  view  of  the  evil^  as  it  affects  the  trans- 
gressor only  that  the  penalty  is  pronounced  : the  soul 

that  sinneth^  it  shall  die.^^  It  may  be,  certainly  is,  in 
view  likewise  of  the  evil,  as  it  affects  the  good  of  others, 
that  the  irreclaimable  transgressor  is  doomed  to  moral 
death. 

The  moral  law  is  universal  in  its  application  to  moral 
beings.  It  binds  all  angels  and  all  men  to  love  Grod 
supremely,  and  their  neighbor  as  themselves.  Sin  not 
only  injures  the  moral  character  of  the  transgressor, 
but  evil  influence  and  evil  example  produce  evil  in 
other  subjects  of  the  same  moral  government.  If  sin 
had  no  evil  effect  upon  beings  of  a sphere  higher  than 
that  of  man,  still  it  has  the  twofold  effect  of  injuring 
the  transgressor  and  of  imparting  injury  to  others  of 
his  own  class  in  the  moral  world.  But  analogy  teaches 
that  all  beings  bound  by  the  same  laws  are,  or  may  be, 
affected  by  each  other's  transgressions ; and  likewise, 
that  classes  related  in  the  same  economy  affect  each 
other  as  individuals  ; and  this  relationship  must  con- 
tinue so  long  as  law  exists,  and  so  long  as  spirits  con- 


CONCERNING  THE  MORAL  LAW.  179 


tinue  free,  whether  in  this  world  or  the  next.  The 
death-penalty,  then,  in  moral  law,  is  hecessary,  for  the 
same  reasons  that  exist  in  all  other  cases.  Unless  there 
can  he  restoration  to  obedience,  and  compensation  for 
the  evil  done,  the  good  of  the  whole  demands  the 
destruction  of  the  transgressor. 


ADDITIONAL  REASON  EOR  THE  DEATH-PENALTY  IN  MORAL  LAW. 

In  addition  to  the  reasons  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, reasons  connected  with  law  in  all  departments 
of  the  universe,  that  the  death-penalty  is  necessary  in 
order  to  the  good  of  the  whole  system,  there  are  moral 
considerations j which  add  their  weight  in  cases  where 
the  moral  law  is  transgressed.  Every  one  can  see  that 
an  agent,  knowing  good  and  evil,  is  not  only  bound  by 
moral  obligations  to  benefit  others,  but  when  he  does  a 
moral  act  which  he  knows  will  produce  injury  to  other 
beings,  he  is  guilty  for  that  moral  injury  as  well  as  for 
the  injury  done  to  himself.  In  all  Unreasoning  things 
there  can  be  only  a legal  connection  between  trans- 
gression and  its  consequences.  But  human  transgres- 
sion has  this  necessary  legal  connection  with  its  conse- 
quences ; and  besides  this,  a knowledge  of  the  wrong 
adds  moral  guilt  to  transgression.  The  evil  done  to 
others,  likewise,  of  which  he  has  knowledge,  is  often 


180  CONCERNING  THE  MORAL  LAW. 


numerically  and  morally  greater  tlian  that  which  ac- 
crues to  himself^  as  the  interests  of  many  are  greater 
than  the  interests  of  one.  In  moral  law,  therefore, 
pardon  and  compensation  to  avert  the  consequences  of 
evil  done  to  others  is  especially  necessary.  The  restora- 
tion must  go  further  than  the  recovery  of  the  individ- 
#ual  transgressor,  because  the  evil  goes  further.  A 
sinner  who  has  influenced  others  to  evil  is  guilty,  in 
part  at  least,  for  the  evil  in  others  as  well  as  for  that  in 
himself.  His  own  restoration,  or  return  to  obedience, 
covers  only  a portion  of  the  evil  growing  out  of  his 
transgression.  The  currents  of  rebellion  which  tlie 
sinner,  before  repentance,  originated  or  accelerated  in 
other  minds,  do  not  cease  with  his  death  or  repent- 
ance ; they  run  on  in  the  life-stream  of  others.  A 
transgressor  may  be — he  often  is — restored  to  obedience 
himself,  while  those  whom  he  influenced  to  sin  continue 
in  the  ways  of  disobedience.  As  one  may  recover  from 
a contagious  disease  while  those  die  to  whom  he  com- 
municated his  disorder,  so  one  may  repent  from  disobe- 
dience while  those  whom  he  influenced  previously  to 
his  penitence  continue  disobedient  subjects  of  the  Di- 
vine government  ; and  unless  there  be  recuperative 
moral  energy  in  the  system  to  which  the  sinner,  with 
his  deranged  moral  nature,  belongs,  there  can  be  no 
restoration  of  the  offender,  and  therefore  no  pardon  ; 


CONCERNING  THE  MORAL  LAW.  181 


and  even  if  lie  be  restored^  tbe  guilt  wbicb  he  caused  in 
others  continues^  and  restoration  or  compensation  in 
their  case  is  needed  before  the  effects  of  his  sin  are  re- 
moved or  counteracted,  and  before  he  can  be  pardoned 
according  to  law. 

The  death-penalty  then,  accrues  under  the  moral  as 
it  does  under  organic  and  physical  laws,  but  with  ad- 
ditional moral  considerations  enforcing  its  necessity. 
From  this  death-penalty  of  moral  law,  for  moral  trans- 
gression, there  can  be  no  redemption,  except  by  restora- 
tion of  the  transgressor  to  obedience,  and  compensation 
for  the  evil  which  his  sin  has  occasioned  in  the  moral 
government  of  God. 

RECAPITULATION.* 

Of  the  things  which  we  have  written  this  is  the  sum. 
Law  and  penalty  are  not  chimeras,  nor  incidental  and 
mutable  relations  of  things  ; they  are  necessities  of  the 
creation.  Law  is  higher  and  holier  than  life  ; it  is  ne- 
cessary to  the  existence  of  life.  Penalty  is  a necessity 
of  law  ; it  is  necessary  to  the  existence  of  law : it  is 
necessary  to  the  good  of  the  whole.  Where  transgres- 
sion exists,  pardon,  or  happiness,  or  safety  is  impossi- 

* We  recapitulate  frequently  in  this  portion  of  the  work,  in  order  that 
the  reader  may  observe  the  connection  of  each  chapter  with  conclusions 
ascertained  in  preceding  ones. 


i:S2 


CONCERNING  THE  MORAL  LAW. 

ble.  Law  is  inexorable.  Ignorance  of  its  provisions 
doe^  not  avert  the  penalty  of  either  physical  or  organic 
laws^  and  only  qualifies  or  graduates  the  penalty  of 
moral  law.  The  first  transgression  puts  penalty  in 
progress^  and  places  the  subject  in  the  road  to  ruin. 
Eestoration  to  order  and  obedience  is  possible  within 
certain  limits  ; but  safety  is  impossible  and  pardon  ab- 
sujd^  unless  two  conditions  are  complied  with,  viz. : — 
the  restoration  of  the  transgressor ^ and  the  restoration 
of  those  affected  hy  his  influence  ; or^  restoration  of  the 
transgressor j and  compensation  lohich  will  counterwork 
and  eventually  remove  the  derangement  from  the  sys- 
tem. In  cases  of  derangement,  recovery  or  compensa- 
tion can  not  be  accomplished  by  the  deranged  subject, 
but  must  arise  from  sources  out  of  or  above  the  de- 
rangement ; but  one  or  the  other,  restoration  or  de- 
struction, is  necessary  and  certain. 

In  the  application  of  these  general  principles  to  man, 
there  are  two  classes  of  laws  which  apply — one  to  his 
organism  as  a corporeal  being,  the  other  to  his  spirituaj 
nature.  The  penalties  of  organic  sins  are  infiicted 
upon  the  body,  and  are,  therefore,  temporal  and  legal : 
spiritual  penalties  are  infiicted  upon  the  soul.  Unless 
there  be  restoration,  penalty  continues  while  the  life  of 
the  subject  lasts.  Pain  that  accompanies  derangement 
is  not  the  whole  of  penalty ; it  indicates  that  derange- 


CONCERNINa  THE  MORAL  LAW.  183 


ment  exists^  and  accom|)aiiies  it  until  restoration  or  de- 
struction ensue.  When  recovery  is  not  effected^  the 
destruction  of  the  subject  is  the  natural  and  necessary 
penalty  of  transgression. 

The  moral  law^  in  its  application  to  man  as  a spirit- 
ual beings  possesses  the  same  characteristics  as  physical 
and  organic  laws.  Its  nature  is  inviolable  and  inexora- 
ble^ and  its  penalties  immutable.  There  may  be  par- 
don after  obedience  is  restored^  and  compensation  for . 
evils  made^  which  the  transgressor  himself  can  not  ef- 
fect ; but  without  these^  thou  shalt  die/'  is 

decreed  by  legal,  natural,  and  moral  necessity ; die 
spiritually,  by  the  subject's  own  sin,  and  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  system  from  the  effect  of  disordered  action. 


CHAPTEE  III. 


MAI^  UNABLE  TO  EECOVEK  HIMSELF  FEOM  DISOBEDIENCE 
OB  BEDEEM  HIMSELF  FBOM  THE  PENALTIES  OF  SIN. 

In  the  light  of  preceding  principles^  the  legal  condi- 
tions of  rectification^  or  justification^  in  the  sight  of  the 
law^  are  plain.  They  are  twofold : first;  a restoration 
of  the  transgressor  to  obedience  to  law  ; and;  second;  a 
reparation  of  all  injuries  occasioned  to  himself  and  to 
others  by  past  disobedience.  If  the  transgressor  could 
recover  himself  to  perfect  obedience — if  he  could  repair 
the  evil  done  to  his  own  moral  nature  by  sin — if  he 
could  counteract  the  evil  effect  of  his  past  life  in  other 
mindS;  and  compensate  for  the  evil  which  those  minds 
did  in  consequence  of  his  influence  upon  them ; then, 
being  rectified  himself  by  his  own  power;  and  having 
/ectified  the  injury  which  he  had  occasioned;  if  God  is 
sufficiently  m’erciful  to  forgive  sin;  the  sinner  would  be 
admitted  again  into  place  and  favor  in  the  Divine  gov- 
ernment. And  still;  under  these  circumstances,  if  they 
were  possible;  the  pardon  of  the  moral  transgressox 


MAN  UNABLE  TO  KECOVER  HIMSELF.  185 


would  be  an  act  of  mercy,  because  an  evil  act  is  wrong 
in  itself,  and  subsequent  obedience  and  reparation, 
while  they  prevent  further  evil  consequences,  do  not 
atone  for  the  evil  per  se  of  the  wrong  action.  But 
God  is  merciftil ; the  transgressor,  therefore,  if  he  could 
perform  these  necessary  conditions,  would  be  pardoned. 

But  to  fulfill  these  conditions  necessary  to  justifica- 
tion and  pardon  is  as  much  beyond  the  power  of  a sin- 
ful being  as  to  create  a world.  With  no  aid  from 
without  himself,  man,  as  a sinner,  must  fall  under  the 
death-penalty  induced  by  the  violation  of  law.  So  far 
as  ability  to  recover  himself  is  concerned,  and  so  far  as 
present  penalty  is  connected  with  present  sin,  he  is 
already  dead. 

GROUNDS  OF  MAn’s  MORAL  INABILITY  TO  SAVE  HIMSELF. 

The  statements  in  a preceding  section,  shovfing  the 
nature  of  sin  to  aggravate  itself,  are  mainly  applicable 
here.  The  commission  of  sin  does  not  abate  the  dispo- 
sition to  transgress,  but  increases  it.  Like  all  other 
derangements,  the  tendeney  to  sin  augments  itself  by 
its  own  action.  Transgression  enfeebles  the  moral  na- 
ture. Conscience  becomes  less  potential,  and  the  incli- 
nation of  the  will  to  evil  increases  with  every  act  of 
transgression.  Habit  produces  facility  in  any  direction 
to  which  the  will  may  tend  ; and  all  things,  as  we  have 


186  MAN  UNABLE  TO  RECOVER  HIMSELF. 

seen^  are  so  constituted  that  any  aberration  from  the 
line  of  law  decreases  the  power  which  holds  subjects  of 
law  in  their  place^,  and  gives  strength  to  the  influence 
which  draws  them  from  obedience.  As  a stream  pass- 
ing over  a rock  wears  for  itself  a channel  from  which  it 
can  not  escape,  so  the  will,  moving  in  obedience  to  a 
selflsh  inclination,  is  alienated  from  the  standard  of 
rectitude,  and  confirms  itself,  by  its  natural  action,  in 
opposition  to  the  Divine  Law.  Affectionate  obedience 
to  God,  and  affectionate  effort  for  human  good,  is  holi- 
ness ; but  the  transgressor  has  not  only  lost  his  holi- 
ness, but  his  disposition  to  be  holy.  As  inclination  is 
to  a flxlling  body,  so  disposition  is  to  the  mind.  Ees- 
toration,  therefore,  without  light  and  aid  from  without 
the  soul  itself,  is  morally  impossible.  On  the  other 
hand;  the  natural  tendency  is  to  depart,  not  to  return. 

MAN  CAN  NOT  COMPENSATE  FOR  THE  INJURY  WHICH  HIS  SINS 
HAVE  OCCASIONED  IN  OTHER  MINDS. 

If  man  were  able  to  renovate  his  own  moral  nature 
and  restore  himself  to  obedience,  his  return  would  not 
make  amends  for  past  injuries  done  to  others.  A good 
act  in  the  present  does  not  compensate  for  a bad  one  in  ^ 
the  past.  It  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  a man 
can  atone  for  killing  one  person  by  subsequently  saving 
the  life  of  another,  because  good  within  the  compass 


MAN  UNABLE  TO  EECOVEE  HIMSELF.  187 


of  our  knowledge  and  ability  is  an  ever-present  duty ; 
and  the  performance  of  duty  can  purchase  no  pardon 
for  the  past  nor  indulgence  for  the  future. 

And  if  our  return  to  obedience^  by  whatsoever  power 
it  may  be  effected,  can  not  atone  for  past  sin  in  our- 
selves, much  less  can  our  obedience  arrest,  or  atone  for, 
the  evil  which  our  sin  occasioned,  and  which  continues 
to  flow  on  in  other  minds.  No  man  sins  without  injur- 
ing others,  either  by  neglect  of  duty  or  by  wrong  ex- 
ample. The  wrong  bias  left  upon  other  minds  contin- 
ues, and  these  minds  again  influence  others  to  evil. 
Thus  every  man  who  has  injured  others  by  an  example 
of  disobedience,  leaves  an  evil  influence  in  the  world 
after  his  own  individual  evil  action  has  ceased  by  re- 
pentance or  by  death. 

The  facts  and  the  philosophy  included  in  these  con- 
siderations make  it  plain  to  us  that  man  being  a 
transgressor  of  the -moral  law,  and  liable  to  the  death- 
penalty,  can  not  restore  himself  to  obedience,  nor  pur- 
chase pardon  by  compensating  for  the  past  evils  of  his 
life  ; hence,  if  man  is  ever  restored  to  obedience,  and 
pardoned  for  past  sin,  it  must  be  by  the  aid  of  a Power 
without  and  above  himself. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT  AND  PRACTICAL  VALUE  OF  THE  SACRIFICE 

OF  CHRIST,  AND  ITS  ACCORDANCE  WITH  THE  LAW  OF  PRO- 
GRESS AND  THE  CHARACTER  OF  GOD. 

We  have  shown  clearly,  as  we  think,  that  in  order  to 
the  pardon  of  a transgressor,  who  is  liable  as  a subject 
of  moral  government,  it  is  not  only  necessary  that  he 
should  be  recovered  from  transgression  himself,  but  it 
is  necessary  that  he  should  be  able  to  repair  the  injury 
which  his  sin  has  occasioned  in  the  moral  system  of 
which  he  forms  a part.  This  responsibility  grows  out 
of  the  fact  that  he  is  an  integral  part  of  a moral  sys- 
tem that  is  a whole  in  itself  We  have  shown  further, 
that  no  man  has  ability  to  restore  himself  to  obedience, 
or  to  rectify  the  evil  which  he  has  caused  to  other 
moral  beings  by  his  sin.  Light,  love,  and  influence  are 
conditions  of  repentance,  and  these  must  came,  as  we 
have  seen,  from  without  and  above  the  transgressor. 
We  inquire  now  concerning  the  legal  aspect  of  the  sac- 
rifice of  Christ,  as  governmental  compensation  for  sin, 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


189 


and  a legal  condition  of  the  pardon  and  justification  of 
the  sinner. 

We  assume  again,  that  perfect  obedience  to  the 
moral  law  is  the  legal  or  constitutional  ground  of 
justification  ; that  is,  it  is  the  thing  which  the  nature 
of  the  system,  and  of  the  subject,  requires.  Every 
man’s  sin  has,  as  a matter  of  fact,  injured  himself  and 
others.  He  has  thus  rendered  himself  liable  to  the 
penalty  of  the  law,  and,  within  himself,  he  has  no 
power  to  restore  his  own  soul,  or  to  compensate  for  his 
evil  infiuence.  In  looking  for  legal  justification,  then, 
we  must  Inquire  if  there  be  any  being  belonging  to  the 
same  system,  and  amenable  to  the  same  government 
with  ourselves,  whose  merit  rises  above  the  demands  of 
the  law.  If  such  a being  could  be  found,  then  his  super- 
legal  merit,  compensating  for  human  demerit,  might 
balance  the  moral  system,  and  bring  the  sum  of  the 
superior  and  inferior  agencies  into  accordance  with  the 
claims  of  the  legal  principle.  (This  compensation  of 
whole  parts  suifering  loss,  in  order  to  restore  injured 
members,  is,  as  we  have  shown,  a law  in  the  nature  of 
things.)  But  in  order  that  these  agencies  should  bal- 
ance each  other,  they  must  practically  counter-work 
each  other  ; that  is,  the  evil  consequences  of  human  sin 
must  be  counteracted,  or  worked  out  of  the  system^  by 
the  merit  of  transcendent  holiness,  because  rectification 


190 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


of  the  evil  is  necessary  to  justification  in  law.  If  such 
a meritorious  and  efl&cient  agent  as  this  could  he 
found,  then  the  penitent  transgressor  might,  by  this 
merit,  be  restored,  and  the  consequences  of  his  sin 
counteracted  or  removed. 

Now  the  moral  law  could  not  demand  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ,  His  perfect  obedience  fulfilled  all  its  require- 
ments. Sacrifice  can  not  be  required  of  a guiltless 
being  to  save  the  guilty  from  penalty.  Law  does  not 
demand  it,  but  love,  as  the  recuperative  power  of  the 
system,  prompts  it.  Such  a self-sacrifice  for  others  is 
super-legal,  and  if  this  mercy  and.  merit  above  law  can 
be  brought  into  efficient  relation  to  those  below  law, 
the  two  agencies  may  not  only  balance  each  other,  hut 
they  will  balance  each  other ^ as  a superior  moral  agency 
will  counter- work  a weaker  one,  if  the  one  he  efficiently 
united  with  the  other.  Thus,  the  merit  of  Christ  above 
law  becomes,  by  faith  (as  we  shall  see),  an  efScient 
moral  power  which  restores  the  transgressor  to  obedi- 
ence, and  compensates,  as  a recuperative  energy  in  the 
moral  system  of  which  man  is  a part. 

This  is  the  algebra’^  of  redemption — the  abstract  ex- 

* The  foundation  principles  of  the  physical  universe  in  its  matter  and 
motions  are  mathematical,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  moral  relations  of  things 
are  alike  permanent  and  proportionate  in  their  nature.  Let  no  one,  then, 
suppose  that  such  deductions  as  this  are  altogether  empty  and  irrelevant 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


191 


prcssion  whicli  lies  back  of  tbe  personal  and  practical 
application  of  the  subject.  Or^  rather,  it  is  the  actual 
value  of  Christas  merit,  applied  to  the  governmental 
recjuirements  which  relate  to  the  pardon  of  sin. 

If  law  were  absolute  in  itself — if  there  were  no  su- 
preme Law-giver  above  the  law,  who  could  maintain  its 
sanctions  while  he  interposed  to  avert  the  penal  con- 
sequences of  transgression,  it  would  not  be  possible,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  to  save  any  transgressor  from  the 
penalties  of  sih.  If  any  transgressor  be  saved,  there- 
fore, it  must  be  by  an  interposition  of  the  Law-giver 
who  maintains  the  law,  while  mercy  restores  the 
offender.  Power  above  laiv  is  not  justice  nor  mercy ^ 
hut  merit  above  law  is  both.  Divine  interposition, 
therefore,  to  save  the  lost,  would  be  a substitute  of  its 
own  merit  to  maintain  the  law,  while  mercy  inter- 
posed to  redeem  the  sinner.  Thus  God  might  be 
just  and  the  Justifier  of  every  one  that  belie veth.'^ 

If  such  equations  and  compensations  in  law  pervade  the  physical  universe, 
why  not  moral  compensation  in  the  moral  universe  ? 

Says  the  famous  Anselm,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  eleventh 
century,  in  his  treatise  Gur  Deus  homo — a treatise  which  the  mathema- 
ticians Leibnitz  and  Hegel  have  spoken  of  in  the  highest  terms — speaking 
of  the  incarnation  of  the  son  of  Grod,  Anselm  says  in  substance,  as  ren- 
dered by  J.  F.  Clarke: — “To  make  satisfaction,  this  God-man  must  pay 
something  that  he  does  not  owe  on  his  own  account.  As  a man,  he  owes 
perfect  obedience  for  himself;  this,  then,  can  not  be  the  satisfaction;  but 
being  a sinless  man,  he  is  not  bound  to  die ; his  death,  therefore,  as  the 
death  of  th©  God-man,  is  the  adequate  and  proper  satisfaction,” 


192 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


Here^  then^  the  question  of  personal  interest  presents 
itself : Has  the  Creator  interposed  in  the  moral  worlds 
hy  adjustment  and  new  creation^  to  remove  the  conse- 
quences of  sin,  and  to  elevate  men  into  His  own  moral 
image  ? We  inquire  for  the  fact : 

DOES  THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST  ACTUALLY  COUNTERWORK  TH 
EVILS  OF  SIN  ? 

That  faith  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  as  an  exhibition 
of  the  love  of  Q-od  for  man,  does  counteract  sinful  pro- 
pensities and  habits  in  believers,  can  not  be  doubted. 
The  reasons  and  relations  of  this  great  truth  are  clear, 
and  have  been  already  suggested.  Jesus  assumed,  as 
the  object  of  faith,  that  character,  and  manifested 
those  qualities,  which  he  desires  shall  be  produced  in 
believers.  He  personified  love  and  obedience.  His  life- 
history  and  love-death  were  the  living  and  dying  imper- 
sonation of  these  graces.  He  assumed  objectively  what 
man  needs  to  be  subjectively  ; and  as  by  faith  the  attri- 
butes of  the  object  of  love  become  subjective  in  the 
believer,  hence  the  life  and  sacrifice  of  Christ,  appro- 
priated by  faith,  must,  from  the  nature  of  things, 
transform  believers  into  the  Saviour's  image,  becaus 
they  will  receive  grace  for  grace."  Thus  by  the  effi- 
cacy of  faith,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  mind, 
Christ  is  formed  in  the  soul  the  hope  of  glory."  Be- 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


193 


holding  the  light  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Christ,  believers  are  transformed  ^^into  the  same 
image,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord.” 

The  view  we  are  considering  may  be  exhibited  in  a 
logical  form  as  follows  : — The  history  of  the  Church 
and  personal  Christian  experience  confirm  the  fact  be- 
yond question,  that  those  who  truly  believe  will  be  in- 
fluenced in  their  conscience,  will,  and  affections,  by  the 
character  of  Christ.  But  Christ  is  the  objective  type 
of  love  and  obedience  to  God  ; hence  those  who  believe 
in  Christ,  so  far  as  the  objective  model  becomes  sub- 
jective by  faith,  are  restored  to  love  and  obedience  to 
God. 

Thus  it  is  that  faith  in  Christ  subdues  the  spirit  of 
rebellion,  and  works  by  love  and  purifies  the  heart. 
An  efficient  relation  is  established,  by  which  the  soul 
is  drawn  back  to  the  sphere  of  love  and  obedience 
from  which  it  had  departed.  The  merit  of  the  process 
is  in  the  objective  model,  because  the  subjective  effect 
is  produced  by  the  objective  efficacy  ; hence  as  justifi- 
cation in  the  sight  of  the  law  is,  by  the  merit  of  Christ, 
so  sanctification  is  by  faith  in  that  merit.  The  conclu- 
sion results,  therefore,  clear  as  light,  and  weighty  as 
gold — that  by  the  moral  merit  of  Christ  alone  believers 

are  legally  justified  in  the  sight  of  God. 

9 


194 


THE  SACKIFICE  OF  CHRIST- 


THE  MERIT  OF  CHRIST  COUNTERACTS,  AND  COMPENSATES  FOR, 
THE  EFFECT  OF  SIN  UPON  OTHERS. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  thing  legally  or  syste- 
matically necessary  in  order  to  redemption  from  the 
penalty  of  transgression.  Does  the  merit  of  Christ 
vail  to  counteract  the  consequences  of  sin,  as  those 
consequences  affect  others  beside  the  transgressor  ? 
The  sinner,  as  we  have  noticed,  by  his  example  and  in- 
fluence produces  evil  in  other  minds  : his  own  restora- 
tion by  repentance  and  faith  does  not  remove  the  evil 
of  which  he  was  the  cause.^  Now,  does  the  work  of 
Christ  tend  to  counterwork  not  only  the  evils  of  sin  as 
they  affect  the  transgressor,  but  as  they  likewise  affect 
other  moral  agents  ? 

Christ's  love-sacrifice  is  a source  of  actual  saving 
power,  which  brings  those  who  truly  believe  back  to 
aftectionate  obedience  to  Grod.  Thus  far,  then,  the 
relations  between  Giod  and  man  are  adjusted  ; but,  as 
we  have  shown,  the  individual  transgressor  may  be 
restored,  while  those  who  were  affected  by  his  sin  before 
his  restoration  still  go  on  in  transgression ; and  the 
restored  transgressor  has  no  power  to  arrest  the  pro- 

* The  acceptation  in  which  I use  this  word  in  this  place  is  a needful 
one,  and  one  which  I will  venture  to  propose,  especially  in  philosophical 
inquiries.  Systematical — ^that  which  is  necessary  as  a part  of  a system- 
necessary  in  view  of  the  nature  of  a system  as  a whole. 


THE  SACKIFICE  OF  CHKIST. 


195 


^ress  of  tlie  evil^  and  no  merit  to  compensate  for  the 
injury  which  he  has  occasioned^  and  which  still  oper- 
ates in  the  minds  of  others:  But  as  the  moral  govern- 

ment of  God  is  one — hound  together  hy  one  law^ 

Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  hearty 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  the  rectification  of  evil 
consequences  in  the  system  is  necessary^  in  order  to 
legal  justification.  Does^  then^  Christas  sacrifice  com- 
pensate for- — ^remove  the  effects  of,  my  sin  from  the 
minds  of  others  ; and  the  effecte  of  evil  induced  by  the 
influence  of  others  from  my  mind  ? 

In  the  case  of  each  individual  that  is  restored  to 
obedience,  his  own  sinftil  habits,  whether  produced  by 
his  own  depraved  propensities  or  by  the  influence  of 
others,  are  broken,  and  a countervailing  infiuence  is 
established,  which  will  in  the  end  eradicate  the  evil 
from  the  heart.  The  effect  of  a man^s  sin  in  other 
minds  does  not  flow  backward,  but  forward.  The 
stream  of  evil  that  one  man  originates  in  the  minds  of 
others,  runs  forward  in  the  life-history  of  individuals 
toward  the  end  of  time.  Suppose  an  individual  pursu- 
ing his  own  inclinations,  and  affected  at  the  same  time 
by  my  bad  example  ; he  is  arrested  in  his  life  of  diso- 
bedience, and  now  truly  believes  in  Christ.  The  char- 
acter and  love  of  Jesus  becoming  operative  by  faith 
changes  his  will — a will  wrongly  determined  by  natural 


196 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST. 


inclination  and  strengthened  in  that  determination  hy 
my  example.  So  the  power  of  Christ's  merit  meets  the 
aggregate  of  evil  in  penitents^  whether  that  evil  he 
produced  hy  their  own  evil  inclinations;  or  hy  the  influ- 
ence of  others.  It  reaches  the  sources  of  demerit; 
and  substitutes  a countervailing  power  in  the  heart 
If;  then;  in  the  progress  of  human  history;  those  evh 
efiects  which  I or  others  have  occasioned;  should  he  met 
as  they  flow  on  in  the  minds  of  men;  and  when  met;  he 
counteracted  hy  the  efficacy  of  the  love-sacriflce;  then 
I;  having  heen  before  restored;  and  the  effects  of  my 
sin  being  now  counteracted;  my  evil  would  be  removed 
from  the  system  of  which  I form  a part;  and  the  law 
of  the  system  would  have  nothing  against  me. 

Now  history  declares;  and  the  Bible  frequently  and 
explicitly  affirms  the  great  truth;  that  the  fountain  of 
love  opened  at  Calvary  sends  forth  a stream  that  aug- 
ments in  volume  and  in  power — checked  at  timeS;  hut 
then  again  bursting  the  harrier;  and  flowing  onward  in 
the  course  of  time.  The  flowing  blood  of  J esuS;  puri- 
fying from  sin;  is  the  rich  and  affecting  symbol  of  this 
divine  efficacy;  which  is  Anally  to  All  the  earth;"  to 
take  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  The  time;  there- 
fore; will  actually  comC;  when  all  the  effects  of  my  sin 
upon  myself;  and  all  the  effects  of  my  sin  in  otherS; 
which  remain  in  the  current  of  the  world's  moral  his- 


THE  SACmriCE  OF  CHRIST. 


197 


tory^  will  be  met  and  counteracted  by  tbe  power  of  love 
exhibited  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  The  first  Adam, 
as  a living  being,  originated  a stream  of  evil  which  de- 
scended in  the  life-flow  of  the  race  ; the  second  Adam, 
as  a life-giving  Spirit,  originated  a stream  of  mercy, 
which  meets  the  dark  current  and  sweetens  it  into  love. 
Thus  the  flow  of  the  Love-Fountain^^  will  in  the  end 
purify  the  earth  from  sin  and  uncleanness.^^ 

COMPENSATION  BY  THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST  AS  IT  OPERATES 
THROUGH  HUMAN  AGENCY. 

In  addition  to  this  compensatory  merit  of  Christ, 
viewed  in  its  entireness,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  causes  a 
reaction  against  sin,  which  is  compensation  in  an  instru- 
mental form  for  the  evil  influence  which  the  redeemed 
sinner  has  exerted  upon  other  minds.  When  the 
believer  is  restored  to  obedience,  he  exercises  thencefor- 
ward a healthful  influence  over  other  minds,  inclining 
them  to  penitence  and  faith.  The  first  effect  of  the  love 
of  Christ  upon  human  souls  moves,  them  to  influence 
others  to  love  and  obedience.  So  the  merit  of  Christ 
not  only  restores  the  alienated  mind,  but  it  secures, 
through  that  mind,  a salutary  influence  upon  other 
moral  agents.  The  redeemed  soul  is  not  only  restored^ 
hut  it  is  imbued  with  an  influence  which  is  restorative, 
* “ IijL  those  days  I will  open  a fountain.” 


198 


THE  SACEIFICE  OF  OHKIST. 


An  accumulative  process  thus  goes  on  ; every  restored 
mind  adding  to  the  power  of  the  reaction  originated  hy 
Christ  against  sin.  As  individuals  are  restored  in  Christ, 
the  recuperative  energy  of  the  race  is  increased.  Thus, 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  system,  and  of  indi- 
vidual agency,  is  the  Saviour  of  sinners  taking  awaj 
the  sins  of  the  world. 

The  conclusion  then  is  reached,  that  there  is  efficacy 
in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  to  restore  the  believer  to  affec- 
tionate obedience,  and  to  counteract  the  effect  of  his 
sin  in  the  lives  of  other  moral  agents.  Christ’s  love- 
sacrifice  was  remedial  and  compensatory^  offered  by 
the  Eternal  Spirit,  once  for  all,  for  the  sins  of  the 
world.”  Amen. 

Having  noticed  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  adjusts 
the  claims  of  moral  government,  and  by  faith  practi- 
cally counterworks  the  evil  of  sin,  we  are  prepared  in 
succeeding  chapters  to  consider  other  vital  relations  of 
Christ’s  manifestation,  as  they  connect  themselves  with 
the  redemption  of  man. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE  MEANS^  MEASURES,  AND  METHODS  OF  RESTORATION 
TO  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  DIVINE  LAW-GIVER.  * 

Assuming  now,  that  by  the  compensating  and 
dent  righteousness  of  Christ  man  can  be  saved  from 
spiritual  disorder  and  death,  the  inquiry  presents 
itself — How  could  aid  be  granted  in  adaptation  to  the 
nature  and  wants  of  man  as  a voluntary  responsible 
being  ? The  meritorious  sacrifice  being  offered  for  his 
redemption  in  the  counsel  of  God,^^  what  are  the  neces- 
sary means  and  methods  by  which  the  power  of  atoning 
mercy  may  become  efficient  upon  the  soul  of  man  as 
an  intelligent  and  responsible  being  ? 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  DIVINE  CHARACTER  COMMUNICATED  BY  THE 
ONLY  METHOD  ADAPTED  TO  ENLIGHTEN  THE  MIND^  WHILE  AT  THE 
SAME  TIME  IT  AWAKENED  THE  SUSCEPTIBILITIES  OF  MAN. 

It  is  a truth  not  only  plainly  revealed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  affirmed  in  the  reason  of  our  race,  that 
man's  best  condition  is  attained  by  assimilation  to  the 
♦ “ Slain  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.” 


200  EESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

character  of  God.  But  in  order  that  we  should  become 
conformed  to  the  Divine  character,  that  character  must 
be  clearly  and  impressively  revealed  to  us.  The  Divine 
Mind  must  be  known  to  us,  not  only  as  a being  of 
power  and  wisdom,  but  as  a Godhead  of  conscience, 
affections,  and  will.  The  human  can  not  be  trans- 
form^ into  another  species.  The  perfection  of  our 
proper  powers  is  the  final  end  of  o^ir  nature.  To 
quicken  the  conscience,  purify  the  susceptibilities,  and 
guide  the  will,  and  thus  fully  develop  the  moral  powers 
of  our  species,  is  to  adyance  man  to  his  ultimate 
attainment.  For  this  end  the  distinctive  revelation 
of  the  moral  attributes  of  God  is  necessary,  in  order 
that  each  human  faculty  may  assume  the  lineaments  of 
the  Divine. 

THE  DIVINE  BEING  HAS  AN  IMMUTABLE  CHARACTER. 

No  one  doubts  but  that  the  Supreme  Being  (blessed 
be  His  name  !)  has  a defined  and  settled  moral  char- 
acter ; but  men  have  widely  different,  and  often  con- 
tradictory views  of  what  that  character  is.  One  man 
believes  God  possesses  certain  moral  attributes,  and 
another  believes  he  does  not ; to  suppose  that  both  are 
right  would  be  absurd,  because  a thing  can  not  be  and 
be  at  the  same  time. 


RESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE.  201 


Assuming,  then,  what  will  not  he  questioned,  that 
God  possesses  a distinctive  and  permanent  moral  char- 
acter, it  follows  that  every  man  who  has  not  a true 
conception  of  that  character  must  he  in  darkness  to 
some  extent ; many  having  very  imperfect  and  inade- 
quate views  of  God,  while  the  conceptions  of  others  are 
utterly  false,  and  sometimes  directly  opposite  to  the 
truth. 

THE  IDEA  WHICH  MEN  ENTERTAIN  OF  GOD  IS  A SOURCE  OF  EF- 
FICIENT INFLUENCE  IN  FORMING  THEIR  CHARACTERS. 

The  idea  of  God,  or  the  conception  of  the  divine 
character  hy  the  mind,  is  all  with  which  man,  in  his 
present  condition,  can  he  conversant.  The  existence 
and  attributes  of  the  Divine  Being  can  have  no  in- 
fluence upon  human  minds  only  so  far  as  the  Divine 
character  is  apprehended,  and  in  proportion  to  the 
strength  of  faith  which  realizes  God^s  being  and  pres- 
ence as  Maker,  Saviour,  and  Judge  of  men.  Knowl- 
edge gives  form  to  the  impression,  and  faith  gives 
measure  to  its  power. If, -therefore,  the  idea  of  God 
in  the  mind  be  one  thing,  and  the  real  character  of  the 
Divine  Being  a different  thing,  the  wrong  idea  not  only 

* Knowledge  is  the  property  and  faith  the  force  which  brings  Grod  and 
man  within  related  distance  of  each  other. 

9^ 


202  EESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

excludes  the  salutary  influence  of  right  impressions, 
hut  it  produces  an  effect  upon  human  character  in- 
jurious in  proportion  to  the  fallacy  and  strength  of  the 
conception.  So  far  forth  as  men  have  false  views  of 
God  before  their  minds  when  they  worship,  they  wor- 
ship a false  God,  and  receive,  as  a consequence,  false 
and  injurious  impressions.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that 
there  can  be  no  process  of  redemption  from  ignorance 
and  sin  until  man  receives  a revelation  of  the  true 
attributes  of  God. 


THE  MORAL  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD  CAN  NOT  BE  REVEALED  PER- 
FECTLY, BY  THE  CREATION  IN  ITS  PRESENT  CONDITION. 

From  the  design  and  adaptation  seen  in  the  things 
that  are  made,  men  infer  the  existence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  and  the  infinite  power  and  wisdom  of  the  God- 
head; but  the  circumscribed  views  which  they  must 
necessarily  take  of  the  creation  as  a whole,  disclose  to 
them  very  imperfectly  the  moral  attributes  of  the 
Creator.  If  some  being  could  stand  in  the  present,  and 
extend  his  vision  over  all  the  geological  series  of  the 
past,  and  then  forward  until  the  cycle  of  the  earth^s 
progress  terminates  in  perfection,  then  predicating  his 
'nduction  upon  a perfect  creation,  he  might,  as  we  have 
shown  in  our  first  book,  learn  more  of  the  moral  at- 


RESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


203 


tributes  of  the  Divine  mind.  But  in  the  present  con- 
dition of  things^  the  limitation  of  human  vision^  and 
the  evils,  or  rather  imperfections,  noticeable  in  the 
creation,  preclude  the  possibility  of  learning,  from  the 
things  that  are  made,  all  that  man  needs  to  know  of 
the  moral  character  of  the  Maker. 


THE  ORDER  OF  NATURE  MAY  REVEAL  THE  NATURAL,  BUT  NOT 
THE  MORAL  GOODNESS  OF  GOD. 

When,  in  connection  with  the  design  apparent  in  the 
adaptation  of  things,  we  study  the  arrangements  visible 
in  what  is  often  called  the  general  providence  of  God, 
the  natural  care  (allow  the  expression)  of  the  Creator 
for  his  creatures,  is  apparent.  The  succession  of  the 
seasons,  the  alternation  of  seed-time  and  harvest,  the 
provision  made  in  nature  for  the  supply  of  all  animal 
wants,  indicate  the  care  and  kindness  of  the  Creator  in 
sustaining  and  preserving  the  creatures  which  he  has 
made.  But  the  general  providence  of  God  regards  all 
creatures  alike,  irrespective  of  moral  character  or  desert. 
The  order  of  nature  is  related  only  to  the  temporal 
condition  of  living  beings.  From  the  observation  of 
providence  men  may  infer  with  certain  philosophers, 
that  God  cares  for  classes,  not  for  individuals  ; or  with 
certain  Jews,  that  the  measure  of  Divine  favor  to  indi- 


204  RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE, 

viduals  is  the  amount  of  temporal  good  conferred  upon 
any  one.  But  so  long  as  many  sentient  beings,  capable 
of  suffering,  and  yet  incapable  of  sin,  are  born  in  pain, 
and  live  in  pain  till  they  die,  the  moral  attributes  of 
God,  viewed  in  the  light  of  providence,  will  be  seen 
obscurely  by  the  human  reason.  So  long  as  virtue 
often  suffers  until  death  from  the  slanderer^s  malice,  the 
rich  man's  avarice,  or  the  unjust  man's  oppressions — so 
long  as  the  innocent  suffer  in  consequence  of  the  crimes 
of  others,  in  which  they  had  no  agency,  and  for  which 
suffering  they  have  no  redress — so  long  as  temporal 
providences  do  not  redress  moral  wrongs — no  interpre- 
tation of  the  ways  or  works  of  God,  as  exhibited  in  the 
present  creation,  can  give  to  men  true  knowledge  of  the 
moral  character  of  the  Maker.  The.  natural  goodness 
of  God,  in  providing  for  the  things  which  he  has  made, 
may  be  inferred  in  a general  sense,  from  the  order  of 
nature  and  the  fitness  of  things  ; but  from  creation  in 
a state  of  progress,  before  it  has  reached  the  perfect, 
God  must  be  imperfectly  known. 

THE  MORAL  CHARACTER  OF  GOD  CAN  BE  REVEALED  ONLY 
THROUGH  A BEING  THAT  POSSESSES  A MORAL  NATURE. 

No  being  can  manifest  an  attribute  of  its  Maker 
unless  that  attribute  is  impressed  upon  its  nature,  or 
may  be  inferred  from  the  relations  which  God  has  con- 


KESTOBATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


205 


stituted  between  it  and  other  things.  The  Creator 
could  not  reveal  justice^  or  conscience,  or  holiness, 
through  beings  which  possess  no  such  attributes.  There 
is  nothing  in  inferior  animals,  or  in  inanimate  things, 
that  can  communicate  or  illustrate  the  nature  of  moral 
attributes.  These  must  be  learned  from  moral  beings, 
and  from  the  administration  of  moral  government. 
Moral  qualities  can  be  manifested  only  through  a being 
that  possesses  those  qualities  ; and  as  man  alone,  of  all 
things  created  in  our  world,  is  endowed  with  these, 
hence  he  is  the  only  being  through  whom  and  to  whom 
may  be  manifested  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Creator. 

This  conclusion  may  be  strengthened  by  the  reason 
of  the  case.  Would  not  human  nature  be  a better 
medium  through  which  the  Divine  Logos  might  reveal 
himself  than  any  inferior  nature  ? Would  it  be  un- 
worthy of  God,  or  discordant  with  reason,  that  the 
Divine  attributes  should  be  fully  and  truly  revealed 
through  the  highest  nature  and  the  only  moral  nature 
upon  the  earth  ? As  God  has  made  man  capable  of 
knowing  his  true  character,  and  placed  him,  as  a moral 
being  in  an  imperfect  world,  where  he  can  not  know  it 
without  revelation,  is  it  not  due  to  man  that  such  a 
revelation  shall  be  made  ? Would  God  permit  himself 
to  be  imperfectly  manifested  to  beings  capable  of  com- 
prehending his  true  character,  while  yet  he  withheld  a 


206  KESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

true  manifestation  of  himself  hy  a nature  capable  of 
revealing  what  men  need  to  know  in  order  to  their 
highest  good  ? The  simple  statement  of  the  case  is 
adapted  to  induce  the  conviction  that  as  a human  being 
is  the  only  medium  adapted  to  the  highest  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Godhead,  hence  humanity  would  be  the 
medium  or  mediator  through  which  final  or  perfect 
knowledge  of  God  would  be  revealed  to  men. 

AN  ADMISSION  AND  AN  OBJECTION  CONSIDERED. 

At  this  point  those  who  reject  the  doctrine  of  the 
special  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  will  admit  our  con- 
clusion. It  is  admitted,  say  they,  that  human  nature 
is  the  best  and  only  adequate  medium  of  Divine  com- 
munication, but  God  has  bestowed  moral  faculties  upon 
all  human  'beings,  therefore,  every  human  being  mani- 
fests the  moral  , character  of  God,  because  it  is  a neces- 
sary inference  that  he  who  bestows  moral  faculties  upon 
any  class  of  creatures,  must  himself  possess  a moral 
nature.  .God  may  bestow  inferior  faculties,  but  he  can 
not  bestow  faculties  superior  to  his  own. 

We  admit  the  inference  that  he  \^o  bestows  moral 
faculties  must  have  a moral  nature.  Let  it  be  agreed 
that  every  sane  man,  in  whose  life  the  action  of  moral 
faculties  is  apparent,  manifests,  in  some  degree,  the 


RESTOBATION.TO  OBEDIENCE.  207 

moral  cliaracter  of  God.  But  while  all  thoughtful 
minds  harmonize  in  this  conclusion^  another  question 
arises  out  of  this  aspect  of  the  subject.  While  it  is 
granted  that  humanity  in  its  present  state  indicates 
that  God  IS  a moral  being,  yet  man,  in  his  present  con- 
dition, is  an  irrvperfect  moral  being.  He  has  an  imper- 
fect moral  nature,  adapted  to  the  present  imperfect 
condition  of  the  earth. Can,  then,  the  perfect  moral 
excellence  of  God  be  derived  from  the  natural  character 
of  man  as  a being,  or  from  humanity  as  a genus  ? 


A PERFECT  HUMANITY  NECESSARY  TO  THE  PERFECT  MANIFEST- 
ATION OF  GOD. 

Whoever  may  doubt  about  the  Christian  doctrine  of 
original  sin,  or  of  actual  sin  existing  from  the  com- 
mencement of  moral  agency,  all  will  agree  that  from 
some  cause,  known  or  unknown  to  us,  there  is  no 
human  being  that  possesses  a perfect  mind  in  a perfect 
body — a perfect  moral  and  corporeal  nature.  Every 
mirror  of  humanity,  from  which  God's  moral  attributes 
are  reflected  upon  the  reason  of  men,  is  obscured  by 
imperfections,  so  as  to  distort,  in  some  degree  at  least, 

* Eden  symbolizes  the  perfect  man  in  a perfect  condition.  The  imper- 
fect man  and  the  thorns  and  thistles  agree.  Man  is  now  a cultivating  and 
a cultivable  animal.  Mar.  cultivates  the  earth.  G-od  cultivates  man. 
]Sarth-cultu»e  elevates  man  in  a physical  and  social  condition.  Soul-cuJ- 
ture  elevates  him  as  a spi.'itual  and  immortal  being. 


208  KESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

the  Divine  image.  The  brightness  of  the  Father’s 
glory,  and  the  precise  image  of  his  person/’  can  be  re- 
flected with  perfect  accuracy  from  no  merely  human 
mind  ever  created.  Gi'od  can  not  manifest  his  attri- 
butes in  a perfect  manner  through  an  imperfect  me- 
dium. No  human  being  ever  possessed  perfection  in 
conscience,  affections,  and  will ; hence  no  being  of  our 
race  could  reveal  truly  the  Divine  attributes,  even  in 
hind.  This  being  true,  the  creation  of  a perfect  and 
special  humanity  was  necessary,  in  order  to  accomplish 
the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  in  the  human.  The 
moral  attributes  of  Grod  could  be  revealed  in  kind  only 
through  a ^perfect  man^  and  as  no  such  man  existed,  or 
could  exist,  in  the  human  family,  hence  the  creation 
of  a perfect  humanity,  or  a second  Adam  was  necessary 
in  order  to  communicate  to  man  a true  knowledge  of 
God.^^ 


AN  ALLEGED  DIFFICULTY  CONSIDERED. 

At  this  point  again  a difficulty  is  interposed,  which 
needs  to  be  considered.  It  is  said  God  can  reveal  truth 

* Under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation,  the  idea  of  the  perfect  was 
actuahzed  by  their  rites  of  purification  and  ceremonial  sanctification. 
(See  FMl.  of  Plan  of  Salvation^  chap,  vii.)  Under  the  New  Testament 
dispensation,  the  idea  is  realized  in  the  humanity  of  Jesus,  the  second 
Adam;  so  that  the  perfect — a conception  required  in  order  to^the  culture 
of  man’s  moral  nature — ^is  given  in  both  dispensations. 


RESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


209 


in  precept  by  an  imperfect  humanity  ; we  mighty  there- 
. fore,  by  inspiration,  instruct  men  in  the  knowledge  of 
his  moral  nature.  An  American  writer — to  whose  work 
we  have  occasion  frequently  to  refer  in  this  part  of  our 
subject — ^has  discussed  this  vital  inquiry,^*'*  and  has,  we 
think,  clearly  shown  that  perfect  precept  is  not  all 
that  is  necessary  to  convey  a knowledge  of  the  Divine 
character  to  the  human  mind.  Man  needs  a revelation 
to  his  heart  as  well  as  to  his  intellect.  Light  is  not 
love^  nor  Z^e,  nor  power ^ in  a moral  sense.  Divine  love 
can  not  be  revealed  by  precept  alone.  Affinities  and 
sympathies  enter  into  the  nature  of  love,  and  its  power 
is  rendered  effective  by  self-denial.  Love  feels  and 
acts;  and  a revealment  of  love  must  be  a history  of 
love-action,  not  a definition  of  what  love  is.  Hence  a 
fleshly  manifestor,  a living  being,  acting  by  the  prompt- 
ings of  infinite  love,  could  alone  reveal  the  divine  to 
the  human. 

Living  love  is  generative — love  begets  love — every 
living  thing  begets  its  kind.  Hence  the  didactic  utter- 
ance, even  if  the  definition  were  perfect,  could  not  com- 
municate the  Divine  love  to  the  human  soul.  A living 
being  f was  therefore  necessary,  in  order  to  manifest 

* Phil,  of  Plan  of  Salvation. 

f “If  this  view  of  the  case  be  a right  one,  the  revelation  which  rea- 
son demands  can  not  be  one  merely  of  moral  principles  or  axioms.  It 
must  le  a revelation  of  a living  leing.  It  can  not,  therefore,  be  one  in 


210  RESIOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

the  living  love  of  God.  Hence  God  interposed  visibly 
and  temporally  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  visibly  and 
personally  in  the  Hew,  in  order  to  beget  love  for  the 
Lawgiver  in  the  human  heart.  The  law  came  by 
Moses,  grace  and  truth  by  J esus  Christ."' 


A FINAL  DIFFICULTY  CONSIDERED. 

It  may  be  said  that  if  God  were  to  create  a second 
perfect  man — sl  special  humanity — with  body  and  soul 
free  from  imperfections,  and  if  the  faculties  of  this 
perfect  man  were  moved  by  Divine  influence  up  to  the 
amount  of  their  capacity,  this  would  be  no  more  than 
the  production  of  a perfect  man,  a humanity  perfectly 
developed.  It  is  true  that,  unless  superhuman  mani- 
festations were  made  through  the  perfect  human,  we 
should  only  learn  the  true  nature  of  man.  If  no  mani- 
festation were  made  through  the  perfect  man  above  the 
measure  of  human  capability,  we  could  perceive  no 
more  of  God  than  might  be  inferred  from  the  maker 
of  the  perfect  human.  But  the  moral  powers  of  the 
human  would  be  'perfect  m hmd,  and  then,  if  the 

which  events  are  merely  accidents,  that  can  be  separated  from  some  idea 
which  has  tried  to  embody  itself  in  them.  Facts  may  be  only  the  drapery 
of  doctrines ; but  they  would  seem  to  be  the  only  possible  method  of 
manifastation  for  the  Being — ^the  Essential  Reason.” — Maurice's  Kingdom 
of  Chrisi 


KESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


211 


infinite  were  revealed  in  these — ^if^  in  connection  with 
the  perfect  hnman^  there  was  revealed  an  indwelling 
divinity^  which,  when  occasion  required,  developed  at- 
tributes perfect  in  kind  up  to  infinity  in  strength,  then 
that  mysterious  union  of  the  Infinite  with  the  perfect 
finite  would  reveal  Divinity  and  perfect  humanity  con- 
joined in  the  person  of  an  Immanuel — God  with  us. 

THE  RESULT. 

The  result  of  these  views  combined  is,  that  in  order 
to  a true  manifestation  of  the  character  of  God  to  man, 
a perfect  humanity  was  necessary — a mediator  between 
God  and  man.  This  being  given,  the  moral  image  of 
God  in  man  would  be  freed  from  imperfection.  The 
image  of  the  Maher  in  kindj  hut  not  in  finite, 

but  not  infinite,  would  be  revealed  in  the  world. 

Having  now  the  finite  image  of  God  in  the  perfect 
human,  in  order  to  manifest  the  Divine  nature,  the 
infinite  must  be  seen  to  dwell  in  and  act  through  the 
finite.  Almighty  power  and  wisdom,  conjoined  with 
the  perfect  finite,  would  unite  the  divine  and  human  in 
the  one  person  of  Christ.  The  two  natures,  exercised 
through  one  person,  would  manifest  both  God  and 

*“Let  "U’s  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness.” — Gen.  i.  26. 
“Put  on  the  new  mai,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after  the  image  of 
him  that  created  him,” — Col.  iii.  10. 


212  RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

man.  A perfect  humanity  being  given,  the  Divine 
could  then  he  seen  elevated  above  human  power,  and 
yet  in  connection  with  it ; and  the  Divine  love  above, 
and  yet  in  connection  with  human  love.f  The  Divine 
prerogative,  especially,  could  be  exercised  through  the 
Humanity,  while  yet  the  distinction  between  the  human 
and  the  divine  were  clearly  exhibited.  J The  Mediator 
would  be  man  to  the  sense  and  God  to  the  soul,  and 
yet  God  to  the  soul  through  man  to  the  sense. 


HISTORICAL  VERIFICATION. 

In  accordance  with  these  deductions,  the  Son  of  God 
— the  Mediator — ^was  conceived  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  His  humanity  was  thus, 
like  the  first  Adam,  created  immediately  by  Divine 
energy,  and  was  consequently  free  from  transmitted 
evil,  both  of  body  and  soul ; and  then,  in  this  perfect 
humanity,  dwelled  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodi- 
ly.^^  The  Logos  became  fiesh  and  dwelled  among  us, 

* He  arose,  and  rebuked  the  winds  and  the  sea ; and  there  was  a 
great  calm.” — Matt  viii.  26. 

f “ Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a man  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  friends.” — John^  xv.  13.  “But  God  commendeth  his  love  toward 
us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.” — Rom.  v.  8. 

t “ When  Jesi^  saw  their  faith,  he  said  unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy, 
thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee.  But  there  were  certain  of  the  scribes  sitting 
there,  and  reasoning  in  their  hearts.  Why  doth  this  man  thus  speak  blas- 
phemies ? who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only  ?” — Mark^  ii.  5-7. 


EESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


213 


and  thus  we  receive  the  ^^ight  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ/^ 

The  human  and  the  divine  were  recognized  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  by  his  disciples^  and  the  doctrine  lies 
in  plain,  intelligible  phrase,  upon  the  pages  of  the 
evangelists.  With  them  Jesus  ate  and  drank  as  a 
man  ; but  he  created  food  for  the  multitude  as  God. 
At  the  tomb  of  Lazarus  he  wept  as  a man  ; hut  he 
said,  Lazarus,  come  forth  as  a God.  At  his  home 
in  Nazareth  he  lived  and  loved  as  a man ; upon  his 
cross  at  Calvary  he  loved  and  died  as  a God.  His 
agony  testified  of  the  man  ; the  agony  of  nature  testi- 
fied of  the  God.  He  gave  up  the  Ghost  as  a man  ; 
after  the  resurrection  he  breathed  upon  the  disciples 
and  said,  ^^Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,''  as  a God. 
Thus,  from  the  baptism  to  the  ascension,  power,  and 
love,  and  prerogative,  both  human  and  divine,  were 
manifested  by  that  mysterious  and  yet  comprehensible 
being,  designated  by  Divine  appointment — God  with  us. 
So  true  to  reason  and  history,  and*so  perfectly  adapt- 
ed to  the  necessities  of  human  character  and  condition, 
is  the  manifestation  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  sum 
of  the  whole  is,  that,  as  a true  knowledge  of  God  is 
necessary  in  order  to  salvation  from  ignorance  and  sin, 
and  as  no  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time"— nor 
can  any  man  know  the  Father  except  he  to  whomsoever 


214  EESTORATION  TO  OBEDIElTCE. 

the  Son  shall  reveal  him'^ — ^therefore,  the  only-hegotten 
Son^  who  is  in  the  hosom  of  the  Father,  hath  revealed 
the  moral  character  of  the  Divine  Being  to  his  creature, 
man.  God  was  in  Christy  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself j not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto  them” 


SUB-CHAPTER  I. 

LOVE  FOR  THE  LAW-GIVER  A SECOND  SUBJECTIVE  ELEMENT  IN 
HUMAN  SALVATION. 

The  character  of  the  Law-giver  being  revealed,  love 
for  that  character  is  necessary,  in  order  that  obedience 
may  be  acceptable  to  Grod  and  a blessing  to  man. 
Truth  is  light j hut  love  is  life.  Truth  in  the  precept 
is  objective,  in  the  sense  that  the  perception  of  the 
duty  imparts  no  inward  moral  power  to  fulfill  the  re- 
quirement, Love  is  subjective,  in  the  sense  that  the 
recognition  of  the  object  of  affection  affects  the  subject, 
morally  and  vitally.  A percejjtion  of  the  rectitude  of 
the  law,  co-existing  with  love  for  the  Law-giver,  im- 
parts both  moral  power  and  a moral  blessing  to  the 
soul.  Truth  without  love  is  like  the  sun  in  winter  ; it 
enlightens,  but  the  heat  is  absent  which  cherishes  life. 
Light  mthout  heat  only  reveals  the  deadness  of  the 
earth ; it  does  not  transform  the  desolation  into  forms 


215 


RESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

of  life  and  beauty.  To  know  tbe  character  of  the 
Law-giver  is  necessary,  in  order  to  guide  us  into  the 
knowledge  of  duty.  To  love  the  Law-giver  is  neces- 
sary, before  we  can  have  spiritual  happiness  in  obe- 
dience. Obedience  prompted  by  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
cept is  right ; hut  hnowledge  does  not  impart  power  to 
render  such  obedience.  Obedience  guided  by  knowl- 
edge, and  prompted  by  love,  is  life  and  peace.  It  is 
easy  to  perceive  that  without  love  for  the  Law-giver 
the  soul  could  neither  be  happy  in  obedience,  nor  could 
the  motive  prompting  obedience  be  acceptable  with 
God.  Nothing  but  an  appreciation  of  the  Divine 
character  can  produce  obedience  which  is  at  the  same 
time  acceptable  to  the  Divine  Being  and  a conscious 
blessing  to  man.  And  it  is  proper  here,  for  the  sake  of 
connection  in  the  thought,  to  notice  what  will  be  am- 
plified hereafter,  i,  e.,  that  love  for  the  Law-giver  can  be 
generated  only  by  the  manifestation  of  the  Law-giver^s 
love  for  us.  Love  begets  love  ; and,  as  things  are  con- 
stituted, in  order  that  love  may  be  generated  in  human 
bosoms,  a manifestation  of  love  on  the  part  of  the  Di- 
vine Being  is  a necessary  precedent. 


216  KESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


SUB-CHAPTER  II. 

ADAPTATIONS  IN  THE  MODE  OF  MANIFESTINO  DIVINE  LOVE. 

We  have  shown  that  the  knowledge  of  Grod  in  Christ 
is  manifested  in  a manner  adapted  to  the  constitution 
of  the  human  mind.  There  may  he  not  only  a per- 
sonal manifestation  of  God,  hut  there  are  modes  of 
manifestation  which  possess  peculiarly-adapted  power 
to  affect  human  hearts.  Truth  may  he  exhibited  hy 
such  methods,  and  in  such  relations,  as  greatly  to  aug- 
ment its  power  in  and  over  the  human  soul.  That 
method  which  has  power  to  awaken  more  than  any 
other,  the  perceptive  and  appreciative  powers  of  the 
human  spirit,  is  the  dramatic — a grouping  of  life-ac- 
tion, working  in  adapted  scenery  and  circumstances, 
and  imhued  with  the  colors  of  deep  emotion.  There 
are  in  the  human  soul  capabilities  to-  do  and  to  suffer 
which  remain  latent,  unless  developed  hy  exigencies 
adapted  to  call  out  their  power.  Most  men — perhaps 
every  man — ^is  conscious  of  the  existence  of  such  capa- 
bilities. When  these  dormant  energies  of  the  soul  in 
others  are  awakened  into  life-action  by  extraordinary 
circumstances,  and  thus  exhibited  before  the  mind  by 
perception  or  conception,  the  scene  and  the  actors  en- 
chain the  attention,  and  bring  out  a response  from  the 


RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE.  217 


depths  of  the  human  heart.  It  is  in  vain  that  one 
who  reads  the  best  delineations  of  Scott  or  Irving^  or 
the  Uncle  Tom''  of  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe^  says^  This 
is  fiction,  and  I will  not  be  affected  by  it  as  though  it 
were  fact."  We  may  say,  ^^This  picture  is  an  unreal 

m 

creation  of  the  fancy  we  may  'know  that  it  is  so,  but 
we  can  not  feel  that  it  is  so.  Powers  of  the  soul, 
deeper  and  stronger  than  the  intellect,  will  answer  the 
call  when  truth  is  personified  and  dramatized.  Hence, 
when  a public  speaker  illustrates  his  Subject  by  life- 
anecdotes  ; when  he  says — He  did  itf  He  suffered^ 
it’' — ^listless  minds  and  wandering  eyes  are  attracted, 
and  memory  treasures  the  illustration  while  she  forgets 
the  argument.  Thus  Jesus,  the  great  Teacher,  taught 
in  parables ; and  without  a parable  opened  he  not  his 
mouth."  There  is  recondite  truth,  which  men  should 
understand,  involved  in  this  characteristic  of  the  hu- 
man mind.  The  soul  responds,  because  it  sees  a devel- 
opment of  its  own  powers.  If  the  scene  which  it  con- 
templates is  a truthful  delineation  of  what  a man  can 
be,  or  do,  or  suffer,  the  soul  will  sympathize.  When 
humanity  is  seen  working  under  intense  pressure,  and 
thus  developing  the  might  of  its  faculties  and  affec- 
tions in  a crisis  of  trial  and  passion,  then,  as  like  out  of 
us  awakens  like  in  us,  so  a presentation  of  intense  life- 

action,  clothed  in  the  drapery  of  emotion,  awakens  a 

10 


218  KESTOBATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

responsive  echo  through  all  the  chambers  of  the  human 
spirit. 

There  is  a mode^  then^  of  presenting  truth  which  is 
more  effective  with  the  human  mind  than  any  other. 
That  is  when^  by  dramatic  grouping^  the  generic  capa- 
bilities of  our  nature  for  good  or  evil,  to  do  or  to  en- 
dure, are  developed  in  earnest  action,  wrought  into  the 
concrete  before  the  eye  of  the  soul.  So  we  are  made  ; 
the  actual  and  the  possible,  presented  in  a life-^drama, 
has  peculiar  power  over  all  the  susceptibilities  of  the 
human  mind. 

This  adapted  mode  being  ascertained,  the  character 
of  the  Law-giver  being  revealed,  and  love  for  the  Law- 
giver being  necessary,  and  that  love  dependent  upon  a 
manifestation  of  Divine  love — then,  in  order  that  the 
soul  may  be  awakened  and  impressed  in  the  mode 
adapted  to  move  all  its  susceptibilities  most  deeply,  the 
Law-giver  himself  would  personify  love  and  obedience 
objectively^  and  intensify  the  effect  by  dramatic  groups 
ings  of  life-action  and  passion.  Thus,  in  a manner 
adapted  to  the  constitution  which  the  Maker  has  given 
us,  would  human  attention  be  attracted,  and  the  hu- 
man faculties  impressed  by  the  great  facts  of  redemp- 
tion. 


RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


219 


THE  REQUIRED  MOpE  ACTUALIZED  IN  THE  LIFE-HISTORY  AND  LOVE- 
DEATH  OF  JESUS. 

Eeader^  look  with  me  and  contemplate  Christ's  life 
of  love  and  lahor^  culminating  in  the  scenes  of  the 
garden,  the  judgment-hall,  and  the  cross.  The  chief 
personage  is  divine.  The  love  of  the  Godhead  is  seen 
exhibiting  itself  stronger  than  death.  The  holy  city, 
the  peculiar  people,  priests,  Eoman  dignitaries,  and 
bands  of  soldiers,  are  seen  in  the  action  of  the  moral 
spectacle.  In  the  center  is  Calvary,  where  a cross  is 
elevated  in  view  of  men  and  angels,  and  upon  it  the 
Divine  Heart  throbs  in  love-throes  for  the  world.  The 
sun  pales,  the  earth  shudders,  the  startled  elements 
assume  an  impending  scenic  aspect,  and  become  a 
dark  back-ground,  on  which  is  displayed  the  moral  mir- 
acle of  Suffering  Mercy.  During  the  elemental  gloom 
a hand  is  stretched  out,  which  rends  the  temple  vail, 
and  shakes  the  fabric  of  the  old  dispensation  to  its  cen- 
ter. The  beholders  are  astonished  and  convicted. 

* Not  only  the  ingenuous  and  truthful  spirit  of  this  narrative,  but  the 
order  of  the  facts,  which  is  evidently  without  design  on  the  part  of  the 
narrators,  in  the  points  we  shall  notice,  bears  with  it  a strong  confirma- 
tion of  the  supernatural  occurrences  mentioned  in  the  text.  When  the 
Saviour  of  men  is  first  elevated  upon  the  cross,  there  are  the  contempt 
and  mockery  of  the  crowd.  Elders,  scribes,  Jews,  the  passers-by,  and 
the  soldiers,  all  revile  the  Sufferer,  and  speak  words  of  bitter  derision  and 
contumely.  But  after  a short  period  elapses  these  same  mockers,  Gen- 


220  kestoration  to  obedience. 

The  crisis  of  the  death-agony  has  arrived.  Jesus ’cries^ 

It  is  finished  I”  and  gives  up  the  ghost. 

The  scene  shifts.  The  powers  of  death  and 
hell  lie  vanquished.  Angels  announce  the  triumph  of 
the  resurrection,  at  morning  twilight,  to  women  who 
are  on  a love-errand  at  the  sepulcher.  Incidents,  sol- 
emn and  soul-stirring,  for  a time  intervene.  The  risen 
Eedeemer  commissions  his  disciples  to  preach  the  Gros- 
pel  to  all  nations — ^promises  the  advent  of  the  Holy 

tile  and  Jew,  experience  a sudden  change  of  conviction.  ‘‘  Surely  this 
was  the  son  of  God  I”  said  the  centurion.  “All  the  people,”  who  are 
reported  as  mockers  before  the  darkness  and  the  earthquake,  when  they 
saw  the  things  that  were  done,  smote  their  breasts^  and  returned  into  the 
city.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  belonging  to  a class  who,  even  before  the 
arrest  of  Jesus,  were  unwilling  to  be  openly  recognized  as  his  disciples, 
goes  boldly  to  Pilate,  and  asks  the  body  of  the  crucified.  Nicodemut., 
likewise,  publicly  aids  to  bury,  in  a manner  testifying  his  reverence  and 
respect,  one  whom  in  life  he  had  visited  in  the  night.  Why  this  sudden 
change  from  contempt  and  mockery  to  consternation  and  penitence  in  the 
foes  of  Christ,  while  at  the  same  time  confidence  is  begotten  in  the  hearts 
of  his  friends  ? The  varied  and  diverse  mental  emotions  given  in  this 
graphic  narration  are,  by  the  laws  of  mind,  the  sequences  of  a sudden 
and  profound  change  of  mind  in  relation  to  the  character  of  Jesus.  There 
was  no  word  or  manifestation  from  Christ  himself  to  produce  this  change. 
It  can  be  accounted  for  in  no  other  way  than  by  assuming  the  supernat- 
ural phenomena  as  having  occurred  at  the  crisis  marked  in  the  narrative. 

If  the  apostles  were  uninspired  men,  deceived  themselves  or  desiring 
to  deceive  others,  they  could  not  have  forged  the  facts,  and  then  con- 
nected with  them  the  legitimate  mental  sequences,  as  they  have  done. 
But  every  one  who  reads  their  several  narrations  wiU  be  convinced  that 
the  simple  facts  are  recorded  by  the  writers,  without  any  apprehension  on 
their  part,  of  the  natural  and  logical  connection  which  they  hold  to  the 
action  and  emotion  subsequently  described. 


RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


221 


Ghost^  and  ascends  from  their  presence  to  heaven . 

Anon^  the  air  is  agitated  as  by  mighty  winds — the 
place  is  shaken  where  the  chosen  are  assembled — the 
Holy  Spirit  descends— the  symbol  of  its  power  and 
pnrity  glows  upon  the  heads  of  the  apostles  ; they  are 
conscious  of  the  Divine  energy,  and  commence  the 
heaven-born  mission  to  conquer  the  world  hy  truth 
and  LOVE  ! 

Thus  the  mode  of  manifestation  is  conformed  to  the 
human  constitution.  It  impresses  the  facts  of  redemp- 
tion upon  the  soul  by  a method  adapted  to  accomplish 
the  design.  When  the  soul  appreciates  by  faith  this 
exhibition  of  God  in  Christ,  the  Divine  love  for  man 
begets  love  in  man  for  God.  The  affinity  of  affection 
which  draws  the  soul  to  obedience  is  established  be- 
tween the  Divine  and  the  human  minds.  The  love- 
death  of  Christ j revealing  through  fleshy  or  the  sensi- 
bility^ the  active  benevolence  of  the  Divine  hearty  com- 
municates LOVE-LIFE  to  the  souls  of  believers.  This 

new  affection  expels  meaner  ones,  and  begets  new 

^ «... 

hopes  and  moral  activity  in  the  renewed  mind.  Those 
whom  we  love,  and  that  which  we  hope  for,  we  joyously 
labor  for.  The  soul  quickened  by  love,  guided  by 
knowledge,  and  sustained  by  hope,  moves  happily  in 
the  life  of  obedience.  To  the  believer,  God,  in  the 
love-sacrifice  of  Calvary,  speaks  with  power,  and  speaks 


222  EESTORATIOlSr  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


to  all  the  faculties  and  susceptibilities  of  the  human 
soul.  The  perverted  and  sleeping  conscience  is  awak- 
ened and  rectified.  The  heart  answers  in  kind^  grace 
for  grace.^^  The  will,  as  the  resultant  of  our  moral 
and  rational  nature  falls  into  subjection  to  the  will 
of  the  Law-giver.  Man  is  redeemed — recovered  from 
rebellion  and  spiritual  death,  to  serve  the  living  Grod. 
Thus  by  adapted  manifestations  of  the  Divine  charac- 
ter, and  adapted  modes  of  presenting  those  manifesta- 
tions to  the  human  mind,  under  the  energy  of  the 
Divine  Spirit,  man  is  redeemed  from  ignorance  and  sin, 
and  reconciled  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 


SUB-CHAPTER  HI. 

Christ’s  sacrifice  in  accordance  with  the  progress  op 

THINGS,  THE  NECESSITIES  OF  MAN,  AND  THE  CHARACTER  OF 
GOD. 

Isaac  Taylor  somewhere  remarks,  that  the  creati9n 
of  man  and  the  permission  of  sin  may  have  implied  on 

* ’Ev  kavTolg  KEnrriiiEva  rlqq  [ieTa{367irig  airiav: — “ In  themselves  con 
taining  the  cause  of  change i.  e.  The  will  is  a resultant  of  changes  pro- 
duced within  the  circle  of  the  individual  consciousness  by  whatsoever 
those  changes  may  be  occasioned. — Plato,  De  Legibus^  lib.  x. 

So  Cicero,  Be  Fato,  § 9.  “Sic  quum  sine  causa  animum  moveri  dece- 
mus  ’ Bine  externa  causa  moveri,  non  omnino  sine  causa  decemus.” 


RESTOKATION  TO  OBEDIENCE,  22E 

the  part  of  the  Creator  the  mission  and  sacrifice  of 
Christ.  This  intimation  is  suggestive^  especially  when 
we  consider  that  man,  as  a moral  being,  is  placed  in  an 
imperfect  physical  world.  It  is  probably  true  to  the 
furthest  extent,  that  those  first  facts  implied  all  the 
series  of  remedial  and  redeeming  agencies,  from  the 
creation  of  man  to  the  close  of  human  history.  Pro- 
gress is  the  method  by  which  the  Almighty  works,  not 
only  in  qne  department,  but  in  all  departments  of  crea- 
tion. If  Christ  had  not  yet  come,  the  analogy  of  na- 
ture, or  rather  the  deductions  of  reason,  founded  upon 
what  we  now  know  of  the  work  of  creation,  would 
teach  the  student  of  nature  that  a teacher  of  perfect 
morals  would  come.  The  transcendent  intellect  of 
Plato,  in  a darker  age  than  the  present,  reached  even 
to  this  conclusion.’*" 

In  accomplishing  the  plan  by  which  God  develops 
his  character,  and  especially  his  essential  attribute  of 
benevolence,  there  was  a remaining  opportunity  for  a 
manifestation  of  Divine  love  more  perfect  than  had 
been  revealed  before  the  time  of  Christ.  God  had  not 
before  the  day  of  the  crucifixion  manifested  fully  and 
perfectly  the  strength  of  the  Divine  benevolence.  He 
had  not  revealed  all  the  love  that  means,  method,  and  a 
Mediator  could  convey  to  man  ; nor  all  that  it  was  pos- 
Platonis  Alcibiad.  § ii. 


224  KESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 

sible  for  tlie  human  mind  to  appreciate.  Love^  es- 
pecially in  its  temporal  aspects^  may  be  manifested  by 
a benefactor  without  self-denials  ; yet,  the  highest  and 
holiest  love  can  be  revealed  only  by  self-denial  of  one 
for  the  good  of  another.  It  is  self-denial  in  the  flesh, 
or  humanity,  that  affects  humanity.  In  attracting  and 
transforming  the  human  heart  the  love-sacrifice  is, 
beyond  all  question,  the  highest  possible  element  of 
power.  The  human  mind  can  appreciate  Christ’s  sac- 
riflce,  but  it  can  appreciate  nothing  more.  Death  upon 
the  cross  exhausted  the  capacity  of  man  to  invent 
means  that  would  prolong  and  intensify  death  agonies. 
In  addition  to  this  utmost  agony  inflicted  upon  the 
body,  Jesus  suffered  all  that  the  power  of  malignant 
passion  could  inflict  upon  the  mind,  and  all  that  sym- 
pathy for  others  could  inflict  upon  the  heart  :~Ms 
mother  stood  near  the  cross ! There  is  no  mode, 
means,  or  medium,  by  which  greater  love  could  be 
manifested  by  self-denial ; and  greater  love  the  human 
heart  has  no  power  to  appreciate,  than  that  exhibited 
on  the  cross. 

* Phil,  of  the  Plan  of  Salvation,  ch,  xv. 

“ For  what  the  law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh, 
God,  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  by  a sacrifice 
for  sin  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteousness  of  the  law  might 
be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh  but  after  the  Spirit.” — 
Rem.  viii.  3,  4.  ' ’ 


RESTORATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


225 


Before  the  sacrifice  of  Christy  then^  there  was  a 
place  for  the  fuller  and  stronger  manifestations  of 
Divine  love  for  man  ; since  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  no 
possibility  remains  of  revealing  to  humanity^  in  its 
present  condition^  greater  love  than  that  manifested  in 
the  crucifixion.  The  precept,  the  example,  and  the 
manifestation  of  Divine  love,  are  all  perfected  in  Jesus. 
Without  God  in  Christ  the  revelation  of  the  Divine 
nature  would  not  have  been  complete.  The  manifest- 
ation of  love  would  not  be  perfect  and  infinite.  With 
it  the  ultimate  re  velation  of  the  Divine  nature  develops 
the  ultimate  capabilities  of  the  human  soul.  Thus  the 
truth  is  sealed  beyond  further  development  in  the 
present  state,  because  this  ultimate  manifestation  of 
God  is  adequate  to  accomplish  the  ultimate  develop- 
ment of  the  moral  nature  of  man. 

THE  MANIFESTATION  OF  LOVE  IN  THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CHRIST 
ESSENTIAL  TO  THE  HIGHEST  GOOD  OF  MAN. 

The  more  of  pure  affection  for  God  and  man  there  is 
in  the  world,  the  more  elevated  and  happy  wiU  be  the 
condition  of  mankind.  But  the  sum  of  love  in  human 
bosoms,  as  we  have  seen,  can  be  increased  only  b]^  a 
manifestation  of  Divine  love  for  human  beings.  Man 

can  love  God  no  further  than  he  has  faith  that  God  is 

10^ 


226  EESTOBATION  TO  OBEDIENCE. 


love.”  As  the  first  seed  of  things  are  from  God,  and 
every  seed  begets  its  kind,  hence  the  love  of  God, 
revealed  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  is  the  seed  which, 
planted  by  faith  and  vivified  by  the  Holy  Sphit,  begets 
charity  in  the  human  soul.  Hence,  if  man  is  restored 
to  obedience  to  the  law,  which  requires  him  to  love 
God  with  all  his  heart  and  his  neighbor  as  himself,  it 
must  he  by  an  influx  of  love  from  the  Divine  heart  into 
the  human  heart.  The  Divine  nature  can  only  be  truly 
known  to  the  consciousness  of  man  by  a revelation  of 
love.  It  is  not  by  precept  alone,  hut  by  manifestation 
that  God  is  known  to  the  soul.  “ God  is  love.” — “ Me 
that  loveih  is  horn  of  God.” — “jEZe  that  loveth  not, 
hnoweth  not  God ; for  God  is  love.” — We  love  God, 
because  he  first  loved  us.”  A new  influx  of  love  from 
the  Divine  heart  was,  therefore,  the  alone  means  by 
which  man  could  he  blessed  and  elevated  beyond 
former  conditions.  And  as,  previously  to  the  sacrifice 
of  Christ,  the  love  of  God  was  revealed  only  in 
shadows,  not  in  substance,  nor  in  perfection,  hence 
the  progress  and  perfection  of  the  scheme  of  revelation, 
as  well  as  the  necessities  of  human  nature,  implied  the 
final  manifestation  of  the  Divine  nature  in  the  sacrifice 
of  Calvary. 


BESrOEATION  TO  OBEDIENCE.  227 


SUCH  A MANIFESTATION  INFERRED  FROM  THE  CHARACTER 
OF  GOD. 

^^Grod  is  love/^  and  Divine  love  would,  from  its 
nature,  seek  manifestation ; because  a manifestation 
)f  love  does  good,  and  love  in  the  nature  seeks  good  as 
its  end.  And  as,  in  the  economy  of  revelation,  there 
was  a place  for  the  introduction  of  more  love-power 
among  men,  both  the  plan  of  Grod  and  the  nature  of 
God  would  lead  him  to  fill  that  place  and  offer  that 
sacrifice.  Thus  the  fitness  of  things — the  necessities 
of  man's  moral  nature,  and  the  character  of  God  are 
filled  and  fulfilled  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  ADAPTATION  AND  PROCESS  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IN  RESTORING 
MAN  TO  IMPARTIAL  REGARD  FOR  HIS  FELLOW-MAN,  THUS  PRO- 
DUCING AFFECTIONATE  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF 
THE  LAW. 

We  have  shown  that  love  is  the  element  out  of 
which  springs  acceptable  obedience  to  Grod,  and  we 
have  exhibited  the  process  by  which  man  is  restored  to 
conformity  to  the  first  table  of  the  law — supreme  love 
to  the  Law-giver.  But  the  divine  law  requires  that  we 
should  not  only  love  Grod  supremely,  but  our  neighbor 
as  ourself. 

Man  is  created  an  active  being,  a free  moral  agent ; 
but  his  active  powers  can  be  developed  only  under  the 
second  table  of  the  law — obedience  to  God  is  labor  for 
man.  The  agency  energized  by  love  constitutes  the 
life  of  righteousness  required  by  the  divine  law.  Now, 
as  God  needs  no  active  agency  on  the  part  of  man  in 
order  to  promote  His  good  ; as  the  will  of  man  can  be 
developed  into  love-action  only  under  the  second  table 
of  the  law ; and  as  it  is  here  alone  that  ntan  can  glo- 


ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  ETC.  229 

rify  God  by  promoting  that  love  and  obedience  .which 
is  demanded  by  the  moral  law — ^we  inquire  whether  the 
manifestation  of  God  in  Christ  provides  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  human  soul  to  equal  love  for  man,  and  to 
love-action  in  his  behalf 


PRELIMINARY  PRINCIPLES  STATED. 

Both  natural  and  revealed  religion  teach  that  assimi- 
lation to  the  character  of  God — ^subjection  of  the  hu- 
man to  the  Supreme  will — is  the  ultimate  duty  of  man ; 
and  the  prevailing  religions  of  mankind  in  times  past 
and  present  have  reached,  without  much  variation,  this 
ultimate  conception.  This  is  especially  true  wherever 
time  and  circumstances  have  favored  a philosophical 
development  of  any  religious  system.’*"  In  all  such  in- 

* The  Oriental  theosophies,  which  reached  fall  development  before  or 
about  the  time  of  Christ,  all  contained  the  idea  of  acquiescence  in  the 
Supreme  will  as  the  ultimate  good  of  man.  The  Gnostic  sought  acquies- 
cence in  the  Divine  will  as  the  supreme  good.  With  them,  to  rise  above 
earthly  affections  and  desires,  and  attain  to  a union  with  the  Pleroma, 
was  the  end  of  science  (gnosis). 

In  Plato,  who  reached  the  ultimate  in  the  development  of  spiritualism 
among  the  Greeks,  there  is  the  analogue  of  the  Oriental  and  Gnostic 
philosophies.  The  lowest  love  in  Plato’s  theology  is  sensual ; the  second, 
complex,  or  sensuo-rational ; the  highest,  the  love  of  the  Absolute  Good. 
To  rise  above  the  agitations  produced  by  matter  and  sense,  and  attain  to 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  the  Supreme  True  and  Good,  was  the  aim  of 
reason  and  the  end  of  life. 

So,  toQ^  the  Hindoo  system  of  the  Yedas,  still  prevalent  in  the  East, 
The  disciple,  according  to  the  Yedanta  exposition  of  Budhisfn,  must  lose 


230  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 


stances  human  reason  reaches  the  ultimate  conception, 
that  the  final  end  and  duty  of  the  soul  is  submission  of 
the  will — consecration  of  the  sell  to  the  Supreme  Dh 

his  own  will,  separate  himself  from  sense,  and  retire  into  himself  by  re- 
flection. He  learns,  then,  that  Brahma  alone  exists — every  thing  else  is 
illusion.  To  lose  the  individual  will  yi  Brahma,  and  become  quiescent  in 
the  contemplation  of  him,  is  the  highest  attainment.  Budhism,  according 
to  the  missionary  Medhurst,  is , developed  to  this  ultimate  conception  in 
China.  And  in  Siam,  according  to  the  statements  of  Dr.  Bradley,  the 
idea  of  quiescence  in  the  Divine  will  is  carried  even  to  the  supposition 
that  conscious  identity  is  annihilated. 

' The  religion  of  Mohammed  includes  the  same  idea  as  its  nucleus. 
‘ Islamism  is  the  devotion  of  self  to  the  supreme  will  of  God.  This,  as  the 
word  signifies,  is  the  final  end  of  the  Mohammedan  ritual.  In  all  sects 
professing  the  religion  of  the  Koran,  Islam^  or  conformity  to  Allah,  is 
distinctly  developed  as  the  “ sum  of  piety.” 

In  examining  the  ground-forms  of  these  systems,  we  do  not  always 
find  a dogma  at  the  beginning  which  enjoins  self-consecration  of  the 
worshiper  to  the  Supreme  of  his  system ; but  as  all  religions  must  assume 
that  God  is  supreme  and  man  a dependent  subject,  the  reason  develops 
unfailingly  (shall  we  say,  constitutionally?)  the  final  exposition  that  the 
finite  finds  its  highest  good  in  assimilation  to  the  will  of  the  Infinite. 

But  as  God  in  no  system  of  natural  religion  is  conceived  of  as  denying 
himself  for  human  good,  hence  the  human  wiU  can  be  brought  to  this 
benevolent  activity  only  by  faith  in  Christ. 

The  philosophers  of  the  most  enlightened  age  of  Greece  seem  gener- 
ally to  h^e  adopted  the  same  opinion.  Aristotle,  in  his  Ethics,  argues 
from  the  nature  of  the  gods  that  happiness  consists  in  abstract  contem- 
plation, even  in  a contemplation  by  which  no  moral  action  was  developed. 
Thus  the  philosophies  and  the  religions  which  are  the  product  of  the  un- 
aided reason  agree  in  a tenet  which  is  antagonistic  to  human  progress, 
and  to  the  active  virtues  which  Christianity  and  the  moral  wants  of  hu- 
man nature  require. 

Aristotle  in  his  Ethics^  book  x.  ch.  viii.,  thinks  that  good  men,  being 
members  of  society,  will  act  virtuously,  because  they  must  act  from  the 
necessity  of  ^heir  circumstances ; yet  he  says,  “ that  perfect  happiness  is 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  231 


vinity.  But  if  the  character  of  that  Divinity,  if  the 
will  of  the  Supreme,  be  not  active  benevolence  for  man 
as  a family,  the  human  will,  by  consecration,  does  not 
b jcome  benevolent.  The  inert,  or  selfish,  or  malignant 
character  of  the  object  to  which  the  will  is  consecrated, 
paralyzes  or  perverts  the  human  powers,  instead  of  de- 
veloping them  into  active  obedience  to  the  second  table 
of  the  law. 

But  in  order  to  fulfill  the  second  table  of  the  law,  the 
act  of  the  will  must  originate  in  love  to  man  ; in  love 
to  man  as  a being ; in  love  to  the  true  character  of 
man,  as  God  created  him.  We  are  prepared  nOw  to 
inquire  whether  faith  in  Christ  produces  love  for  man, 
and  whether  submission  of  the  will  to  Christ  produces 
love-action  for  the  good  of  man  ? 

a kind  of  contemplative  happiness  might  be  shown  from  hence,  that  we 
suppose  the  gods  to  be  pre-eminently  blessed  and  happy.  But  what 
moral  acts  can  we  attribute  to  them  ? — Shall  they  be  acts  of  justice  ? 
Would  they  not  appear  ridiculous  making  bargains,  or  restoring  deposits, 
or  such-like  acts  ? Or  shall  we  attribute  to  them  courageous  actions  that 
they  may  undertake  formidable  things,  or  meet  dangers,  because  this 
would  be  honorable  ? Or  shall  we  attribute  to  them  benevolent  actions  ? 
— but  to  whom  shall  they  give?  ❖ * * Even  if  they  are  temperate, 

what  would  follow?— Is  not  praise  absurd,  because  they  have  no  bad  de- 
sires ? And  if  we  went  through  every  case  of  moral  action  they  would  seem 
small  and  unworthy  of  gods.  Yet  aU  suppose  that  they  live  and  cogitate, 
for  they  do  not  sleep  like  Endymion.  To  him,  therefore,  who  lives^  hut  is 
abstracted  from  moral  action^  and  still  more  so  from  production,  what  is 
left  but  contemplation  ? So  that  the  energy  of  the  Divine  Being,  as  ii 
exceeds  in  blessedness,  must  be  contemplative : and.  therefore^  of  human 
energies  tha:  which  is  nearest  allied  to  this  must  be  the  ha;ppiestf 


232  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 


BY  FAITH  IK  CHRIST  WE  LOVE  BOTH  THE  TRUE  GOD  AND  THE 
TRUE  MAN  AT  THE  SAME  TIME. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  fact  that  in  Christ  a true 
humanity  was  revealed  in  union  with  the  Divinity,  hut 
we  have  not  exhibited  the  reasons  and  relations  of  this 
merciful  revelation  of  the  true  human  nature. 

It  was  not  only  necessary  that  the  character  of  Grod 
should  he  revealed,  in  order  that  man  might  love  the 
true  God,  hut  it  was  likewise  necessary  that  the  true 
character  of  man  should  he  revealed^  in  order  thost  man 
might  love  the  true  man,  Christ  was  both  the  true  God 
and  the  true  man.  In  him  God  was  manifested  as  he 
iSj  and  man  was  manifested  as  he  should  he.  Our  race 
had  lost  the  knowledge  of  the  true  man  as  certainly 
and  as  hopelessly  as  they  had  lost  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  God.  By  faith  in  Christ  we  believe  both  in 
the  true  God  and  the  true  man  at  the  same  time.  He^ 
therefore j who  loves  Christy  loves  hoth  the  true  God  and 
the  true  man  in  Him.  Faith  in  Christ  worhs  hy  love  to 
man  as  he  should  he^  and  hy  labor  to  make  man  what  he 
should  he. 

Now,  if  we  love  the  true  humanity  in  Christ,  we  will 
love  it  every  where.  Humanity  in  Christ  is  generic. 
It  is  the  second  Adam ; the  impersonation  of  man  as 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  TPIE  LAW.  233 


God  created  him ; the  true  soul^  faculties^  aad  suscepti- 
bilities of  the  beings  man.  ^ 

God  and  man  being  thus  united  in  Christy  it  is  not 
possible  to  love  God  in  Christ  without  loving  man  in 
Christ  at  the  same  time.  Thus  the  manifestation  of 
God  in  Christ  produces  in  the  human  soul  love  for  both 
God  and  man.  It  hrings  the  soul  into  conformity  with 
both  divisions  of  the  law,  He  therefore  who  saith^  I 
love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  is  a liar."'*'*'*  His 
brother  that  he  hath  seen  is  in  his  nature,  although 
sin-marred  in  character,  a living  type  of  the  humanity 
of  Jesus.  The  true  humanity  is  a finite  moral  image 
of  the  infinite  God.  In  kind,  but  not  in  degree  of  ex- 
cellence or  power,  the  perfect  moral  nature  of  man  is  a 
created  image  of  the  divine.  He,  therefore,  who  loveth 
not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  loves  not  the  true 
God  whom  he  hath  not  seen.  But  every  one  who  is  as- 
similated by  faith  to  the  character  and  will  of  Christ, 
loves  both  the  true  God  and  the  true  man,  in  him,  at 
th^  same  time. 

THE  PRACTICAL  OPERATION  OF  THESE  PRINCIPLES.  FAITH  IN 

Christ’s  sacrifice  produces  love — faith  in  his  life  pro- 
duces ACTION. 

We  come  now  to  the  practical  application  of  these 
foundation  principles  of  the  Gospel : — Christ  being 
* 1 John,  iv  20. 


234  A.DAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 

recognized -and  loved  as  the  Supreme^  what  character 
and  conduct  would  he  the  product  of  the  consecration 
of  the  will  to  Him  ? 

No  one  doubts  hut  that  love  for  Christ  is  the  true 
motive  power  of  the  Grospel.  This  is  assented  to  by  all 
Protestant  denominations^  and  by  all  benevolent  asso- 
ciations that  labor  to  enlighten  and  save  men.  We 
will^  therefore^  assume  here  what  we  have  proved  before^ 
that  the  motive  power  in  all  Gospel  effort  is  the  love  of 
Christy  and  proceed  to  show  how  faith^  which  works  by 
love,  guides  men  into  that  benevolent  activity  of  which 
the  self-denial  of  Christ  for  human  good  is  both  the 
motive  and  the  model. 


CHRIST  THE  MODEL-MAN.  FAITH  IN  HIS  LIFE  PRODUCES  BENEir- 
OLENT  ACTION  FOR  HUMAN  GOOD.  ’ 

Love  for  Christ  as  the  true  man  produces  labor  to 
make  others  like  Christ.  The  character  of  Jesus  is  the 
standard  to  which  the  believer  aspires,  and  to  which  he 
will  labor  to  bring  others.  The  love  of  Christ  makes 
him  the  model  into  which  Christians  labor  to  fashion 
the  human  character.  There  are  men  destitute  of  liv- 
ing faith  in  Christ,  who  are,  no  doubt,  sincerely  endeav- 
oring to  benefit  their  fellow-men,  and  whatever  character 
may  be  the  model  of  excellence  with  any  such  class  of 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  235 


men^  they  will  endeavor  tor  mold  society  into  that  form. 
Love  for  a model  character  must^  hy  the  laws  of  mind, 
produce  this  effect.  If  loe  love  those  for  whom  we 
labor ^ we  will  labor  to  make  them  lihe  those  whom  loe 
love,  A man  whose  ideal  of  excellence  is  some  distin- 
guished statesman,  if  he  love  no  standard  more  than 
this,  will  desire  that  his  son  should  attain  to  the  same 
excellency.  So  when  the  ideal  model  is  a successful  di- 
rector of  monetary  or  military  affairs,  the  father  or 
friend  will  endeavor  to  conform  those  he  loves  best  to 
that  standard,  if  the  attainment  of  the  character  he 
within  the  limit  of  hopeful  ambition.  So  there  are  ideal 
conditions,  in  which  men  of  good  intentions  seek  the 
happiness  of  society.  Some  would  have  all  in  com- 
munities, seeking  their  chief  good  in  equal  worldly 
condition.^"  Other  philanthropists  seek  the  chief  good 

* Such  men  as  Owen  of  Lanark,  and  Horace  Greely  of  New  York, 
possessing  apparently  a natural  good  will  for  man,  which  we  sometimes 
see  exhibited  both  in  an  cient  and  modern  times,  have  labored  long,  and 
expended  large  amounts  of  money,  to  perfect . the  scheme  of  social  com- 
munities. But  such  schemes  must  forever  fail  to  produce  happiness,  or 
gain  the  ends  desired.  The  individuals  are  brought  together  in  all  such 
instances  by  selfishness.  In  the  communal  arrangement  each  seeks  his 
supreme  good.  But  the  aggregation  of  selfish  individuals  can  not  produce 
benevolence.  Selfish  action  and  self-seeking  only  confirm  a selfish  dis- 
position, and  the  accumulation  of  selfishness  in  such  associations  will,  in 
the  end,  produce  an  explosion,  which  will  scatter  the  fragments  again 
into  common  society.  In  the  United  States  this  has  alread}^  been  the 
result  in  many  cases.  This  was  the  result  of  Owen’s  effort  on  the  Wabash, 
in  the  State  of  Indiana.  Society  might  be  benefited,  and  social  comfort 
and  usefulness  produced,  in  some  cases,  by  association.  With  the  Chris- 


236  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 

of  men  in  some  new  arrangement  of  the  social  economy; 
Among  men  who  are  not  influenced  hy  faith  in  Christ, 
which  makes  Him  the  standard  of  human  excellence, 
plans  to  attain  the  good  of  man  as  an  individual 
are  as  various  as  they  were  in  the  days  of  the  Greek 
sages,  of  whom  Varro  writes  that  they  sought  the 
chief  good  in  a multitude  of  diverse  conditions. 
Without  love  for  Christ  there  can  he  no  unanimity 
among  men  in  their  efforts  to  promote  human  welfare. 
All  who  reject  the  Christian  faith,  and  depend  for  ulti- 
mate good  on  objective  conditions,  make  the  radical 
mistake  of  supposing  that  maffs  chief  good  consists 
in  objective  attainments,  not  in  subjective  exercises. 
To  seek  the  chief  good  in  any  object  that  does  not  pro- 
duce love  and  purity  within  us,  is  to  destroy  the  peace 
•for  which  we  seek.  As  the  man  who  drinks  of  a poi- 
soned fountain,  the  more  he  drinks  the  more  he  thirsts^ 
so  is  the  fool  who  endeavors  to  satisfy  his  s^&iritua . 

tian  principle,  as  it  exists  in  Moravian  communities,  where  love  for  Christ 
produces  labor  for  man  as  the  primary  object  of  life,  associated  labor  is 
happy  and  successful  labor,  because  it  is  a labor  of  love.  It  satisfies  con- 
science, reheves  men  of  all  sense  of  danger  regarding  the  comfortable 
maintenance  of  self  and  children,  takes  away  temptations  to  self-aggran- 
dizement, and  aids  social  enjoyment ; while  at  the  same  time  the  laborer 
every  day  enjoys  the  hope  of  future  blessedness,  and  if  self-denials  are  to 
be  made,  they  are  made  for  Christ’s  sake.  Thus  selfishness  is  restrained, 
from  marring  the  bonds  which  unite  the  society,  and  its  power  over  the 
minds  of  individuals  is  abated,  because  the  action  and  the  aim  is  directed, 
not  for  self  as  an  end,  but  for  Christ  and  humanity. 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  237 


wants  by  temporary  aliment. Social  arrangements  and 
temporal  acquisitions  may  be  auxiliaries  to  happiness  in 
the  case  of  those  who  have  purifying  love  in  their  hearts, 
but  these,  without  subjective  benevolence,  can  not  give 
life  or  happiness.  Men  might  raise  a suffering  mendi-. 
cant  as  high  as  temporal  acquisition  could  elevate  him, 
while  still  his  happiness  would  be  less  and  his  influence 
Worse.  The  highest  good  of  man  consists  in  that  state 
of  mind  in  which  his  action  is  prompted  by  love.  To 
bring  men  into  the  life  of  love,  so  that  they  will  act  in 
accordance  with  the  law  of  love^  is  to  accomplish  the 
end  in  which  alone  the  nature  of  the  soul,  and  the  laws 
of  the  moral  universe,  will  allow  man  to  find  his  chief 
good.  Now,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  model  of  this  attain- 
ment, both  in  character  and  action,  hence  the  love  of 
Christ  is  the  only  impulse  that  both  moves  and  guides 
the  soul  in  right  action  for  the  good  of  man.j* 

* “ Thou  foo],  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee.”  “This 
night”  of  the  soul,  when  in  its  moral  darkness  it  endeavors  to  satisfy  itself 
by  temporal  acquisitions. 

f Do  we,  then,  discard  the  efforts  of  those  who,  while  they  are  without 
faith  in  Christ,  labor  to  promote  human  interests  ? By  no  means ! We 
desire  neither  to  discard  nor  discredit  such  efforts.  One  of  the  highest 
instincts  of  living  beings  is  sympathy  with  the  wronged  and  the  suffer- 
ing. Even  in  the  orders  of  animals  below  man,  the  cry  of  distress  will 
arouse  creatures  of  the  same  species,  and  bring  them  to  the  rescue  of  the 
suffering  one.  The  philanthropist  who  obeys  the  highest  instinct  of  our 
nature,  and  rallies  to  the  rescue  of  the  v/ronged  or  the  needy,  evinces 
nobility -of  nature  far  beyond  those  who,  while  they  may  profess  to  love 


238  ADAPTATION  OP  THE  GOSPEL  TO 


THE  LOVE  OF  CHRIST  PRODUCES  LOVE  TO  MAN  AS  A GENUS. 

Another  characteristic  development  of  the  human 
soul  produced  by  love  to  Christ  is,  that  those  who  pos- 
sess it  will  oppose  every  thing  which  injures  man. 
Christians  love  man  for  the  sake  of  his  nature — his  true 
nature,  as  revealed  in  the  Mediator.  It  is  the  love  of 
humanity^  not  the  love  of  some  single  attribute  or 
condition  of  humanity  ; the  love  of  humanity,  in  itself 
considered^  not  the  love  of  one  race  or  class  of  the 
human  family. 

Now,  an  individual  who  loves  man  as  man^  will 
oppose  every  thing  which  degrades  his  character,  abates 
his  happiness,  or  impairs  his  rights.  A Christian  father 
loves  his  son — that  son  is  beset  by  several  evils  ; one 
man  aims  to  lead  him  into  vice,  another  to  make  him  a 
slave,  another  to  keep  him  in  mental  error  or  personal 
degradation — the  father  will  not  only  oppose  one,  but 
all  of  these  ; and  the  opposition  of  the  parent  will  be 
strong  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  sought 
to  be  inflicted  upon  the  object  of  his  aftection.  This  is 
the  very  nature  of  love  ; a person  who  loves  another 

Christ,  deny  by  their  conduct  both  the  higher  instincts  of  humanity  and 
the  holier  impulses  of  divine  love  in  the  heart.  Love  for  the  true  Christ 
gives  divine  life  to  the  natural  instinct,  and  rightly  directs  human  efforts 
for  human  good. 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  239 


can  not  do  otherwise  than  oppose  every  thing  which 
injures  the  person  or  the  interests  of  the  loved  object. 
And  not  only  in  relation  to  all  evils,  but  a father  will  do 
so  in  relation  to  all  This  children.  If  he  feel  thus  toward 
one  and  n^t  toward  another,  he  has  lost  the  true  in- 
stincts of  a parentis  heart.  If  he  is  very  hostile  to  one 
influence  which  would  injure  his  child,  while  he  is  will- 
ing he  should  be  injured  by  some  other,  his  mind  is 
blinded  or  perverted.  Love,  in  its  nature  and  its  de- 
velopment, is  opposed  to  every  thing  that  will  injure 
the  object  of  affection.  Such  love  for  man  faith  in 
Olirist  begets  in  the  human  soul.  The  Christian  loves 
man  as  man  ; wherever,  therefore,  thele  is  a human 
nature,  he  will  oppose  every  thing  that  mars  the  attri- 
butes or  deflles  the  susceptibilities  of  that  nature.  A 
man  who  loves  Christ  loves  every  man,  because  every 
man  bears  the  image  of  that  humanity  which  he  loves 
in  the  person  of  the  Mediator.  The  image  is  marred, 
indeed,  in  its  moral  features ; hence,  as  we  have  shown, 
love  will  produce  labor  to  redeem  the  fallen  and  restore 
the  true  humanity. 

The  love  of  Christ,  therefore,  produces  effort  for  hU“ 
man  good  that  is  without  partiality  and  without 
hypocrisy.^^  The  true  friend  of  man  can  not  be  op- 
posed to  war  and  at  the  same  time  tolerate  slavery  ; he 
can  not  oppose  slavery  w^hile  he  knowingly  encourages  or 


240  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 

perpetrates  otlier  wrongs  wMcli  degrade  or  injure  men. 
In  whatever  heart  love  to  the  true  Christ  lives^  opposi- 
tion to  every  thing  which  wrongs  or  defiles  man  is  one 
of  its  natural  developments.  Christ  recognizes  human 
nature  as  His  nature^  and  the  principle  is  hacorporated 
into  the  phraseology  of  that  decree  which  settles  the 
final  destiny  of  the  soul — Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  hrethreny  ye  did  it 
unto  me.'^ 

LOVE  FOR  HUMANITY  AS  REVEALED  IN  CHRIST  PRODUCES  EFFORT 

FOR  THE  VARIOUS  CLASSES  AND  CONDITIONS  OF  MEN  IN  PRO- 
PORTION TO  THEIR  NEED. 

A third  characteristic  development  of  the  love  which 
is  produced  hy  faith  in  Christ  is,  that  it  leads  men  to 
labor  first  and  most  for  those  who  most  need  sympathy 
and  effort.  This  is  so  plain  a characteristic  of  divine 
love — ^it  is  exhibited  so  fully  in  the  character  and 
teachings  of  Christ,  that  it  is  a matter  of  wonder  that 
many  in  all  ages,  professing  regard  for  the  Grospel,  have 
misconceived  or  overlooked  this  characteristic  action  of 
a benevolent  will. 

It  is  the  nature  of  love  that  it  develops  itself  for  its 
objects  without  partiality  and  without  hypocrisy.  A 
mother  has  a family  of  children  ; she  loves  all  her  off- 
spring alike  ; but  one  is  suffering  and  in  danger,  and 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  241 


therefore  needs  her  assistance  more  than  others.  What 
will  that  mother  do  ? Will  she  administer  to  others 
while  she  neglects  the  suffering  one  ? Not  if  she  has 
a mother's  heart.  A mother  will  leave  those  who  need 
her  care  less  and  go  to  befriend  and  succor  those  in 
want  of  sympathy  or  assistance.  True  love  can  do 
nothing  else.  That  love  is  partial  or  impure  that  does 
not  distribute  to  its  objects  in  proportion  to  their  meas- 
ure of  want.  If  the  love  of  humanity,  as  a nature, 
dwell  in  our  hearts  when  one  class  of  men  need  effort 
in  their  behalf  more  than  others,  Christian  love  directs 
effort  to  the  more  needy.  This  is  the  nature  of  true 
love,  both  human  and  divine,  and  the  one  is  illustrated 
by  the  other. 

To  guide  the  human  mind  into  unselfish  and  unsec- 
tarian effort  for  human  good,  the  Saviour  has  presented 
truth  in  varied  and  striking  forms.  When  the  disci- 
ples of  John  came  in  their  master's  name  to  inquire 
whether  Jesus  were  the  Messiah,  he  replied — ^^Go,  teU 
John  that  I bestow  temporal  benefits  first  upon  those 
who  are  most  needy  : the  j90or — the  sick — the  })lind ! 
and  so  I do  spiritually ; the  poor  have  the  Gospel 
preached  unto  them’’  J ohn  knew  the  characteristics 
of  Divine  Love.  The  message  settled  the  question : 
and  that  Voice  which  reproved  sin  in  high  places,  prob- 

11 


242  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  TO 

ably  exulted  in  the  confirmation  of  its  utterances  be- 
fore it  was  busbed  by  tbe  ax  of  tbe  executioner. 

A Jew,  professing  to  love  Grod,  and  wbo  assented  to 
tbe  sum  of  tbe  divine  law,  asked  Jesus — Wbo  is  my 
neighbor  T’  In  answer  we  bave  tbe  striking  parable 
of  tbe  man  wbo  fell  among  thieves.  Some  wbo  pro- 
fessed to  teach  tbe  prevailing  religion  passed  by  tbe 
helpless  sufferer,  while  yet  relief  was  granted  by  one 
whom  tbe  Pharisees  supposed  to  be  an  alien  from  tbe 
true  faith,  and  wbo  was  not,  probably,  so  orthodox  in 
theory  as  themselves.  Jesus  approved  tbe  conduct  of 
tbe  Samaritan — sanctioned  it  for  all  time  as  an  illus- 
tration of  true  neighborship ; and  commanded  tbe 
inquirer  to  go  and  do  likewise.^^ 

Superadded  we  bave  tbe  parables  of  tbe  lost  sheep 
and  tbe  lost  piece  of  money.  Tbe  true  shepherd  will 
leave  tbe  ninety-and-nine  wbo  are  in  less  danger,  to 
succor  tbe  one  exposed  to  the  wolf  and  beasts  of  prey. 
Tbe  import  of  tbis^ teaching  can  not  be  doubted  ; that 
alone  is  moral  love  for  man  which  produces  labor 
first  and  most  for  those  in  greatest  need  of  sympathy 
and  succor. 

This  moral  love  for  man,  which  fulfills  tbe  second 
table  of  tbe  law,  is  exemplified  and  illustiated  'by  tbe 
life  of  tbe  Son  of  God,  and  by  all  tbe  apostles  and 
evangelists  and  martyrs  of  Obrist,  whose  bistory  is 


THE  SECOND  TABLE  OF  THE  LAW.  243 


referred  to  in  tlie  New  Testament.  The  higher  reason 
and  the  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  the  heart 
likewise  teach  this  doctrine.  The  truth  of  the  state- 
ment is  beyond  controversy,  that  with  those  who  have 
faith  in  the  true  man  as  revealed  in  Christ,  love  rises 
and  urges  in  proportion  to  the  wrongs  and  heljjlessness 
of  men.  This  characteristic  needs  not  to  be  argued 
with  the  Christianas  heart.  Jesus  left  the  bosom  of  the 
Father — he  left  the  adoring  presence  of  obedient  spir- 
its, and  came  to  seek  and  to  save  those  who  were  lost. 
And  every  one  whose  will  is  assimilated  to  that  of 
Christ  will  go  and  do  likewise.  Thus  the  active  moral 
powers  of  the  soul,  which  are  paralyzed  or  perverted  by 
a false  faith,  And  their  ultimate  and  true  development 
by  faith  in  Christ — a development  which  harmonizes 
the  will  of  the  believer  with  the  plan  and  labor  of 
Christ  in  saving  lost  men. 

The  conclusion,  then,  we  think,  is  fairly  gained,  that 
the  revelation  of  the  human  nature  in  connection  with 
the  divine  nature  in  Christ  consecrates  the  will  of  those 
who  love  Jesus  to  the  glory  of  God  in  the  good  of  men. 
The  spirit  and  the  example  of  the  true  man  as  exhib- 
ted  in  the  life  of  Christ — the  authority  ivhich  the  di- 
vine gives  to  the  human  hy  the  connection  of  the  two;  and 
added  to  these,  the  weightiest  sanction  by  which  hu- 
man duty  can  be  enforced — the  sanction  of  the  judg- 


244  ADAPTATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL,  ETC. 

ment,  in  which  Christ  identifies  himself  with  the 
wronged  and  suffering  classes  of  men,  recognizes  his 
own  nature  in  them,  and  receives  acts  done  for  them  as 
done  for  him,  and  to  him : all  these  unite  to  develop 
the  will  of  man  into  love — labor  for  human  good,  and 
to  confirm  the  soul  in  benevolent  obedience. 

Thus  does  the  manifestation  of  the  true  God  and  the 
true  man  in  Christ  mold  the  moral  powers  of  our  na- 
ture into  the  character  of  active  benevolence  which  is 
required  by  the  law — it  meets  the  ultimate  demand  of 
the  human  reason,  and  transforms  the  satisfied  and 
sanctified  human  spirit  into  the'  image  of  the  Ee- 
deemer. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  MANIFESTATION  OF  GOD  IN  CHEIST,  CONSIDERED 
IN  ITS  RELATIONS  TO  THE  FUTURE  LIFE. 

We  have  noticed  the  possibility  and  the  method  of 
redemption^  and  the  final  issue  in  the  development  of 
a benevolent  will ; and  we  have  shown  that  law  can 
not  be  broken^  even  for  mercy's  sake.  We  will  notice 
now^  finally^  the  manner  in  which  mercy  is  adminis* 
tered  in  adaptation  to  the  mental  constitution  of  man, 
as  a being  destined  to  exist  during  the  present  and  the 
future  life. 

THE  OPPOSITE  POLES  OF  THE  AFFECTIONS. 

We  can  not  love  two  things  of  opposite  characters  at 
the  same  time : to  whichsoever  a man  determines,  he 
will,  as  he  grows  in  love  to  one,  become  opposed  to  the 
other.’*"  Love  and  hatred  are  the  opposite  poles  of  the 
affections.  One  can  not  exist  without  its  antagonism  ; 

* “ If  he  love  the  one  he  wiU  hate  the  other : ye  can  not  serve  God 
and  Mammon.” — Jesus, 


■0^ 


246  THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 

therefore^  where  love  to  one  character  exists,  alienation 
from  the  opposite  character  exists  necessarily.  This 
is  law  in  the  moral  world — this  the  nature  of  moral 
beings. 

It  is  likewise  a law,  governing  both  our  physical  and 
mental  economy,  that  each  faculty  is  strengthened  by 
exercise,  while  the  non-use  or  misuse  paralyzes  or  per- 
verts both  the  physical  and  moral  faculties.  As  the 
action  of  one  arm  and  the  non-action  of  the  other  will, 
develop  the  one  and  paralyze  the  other,  so  mental 
habits  of  one  moral  character,  strengthen  the  disposi- 
tion to  act  in  that  direction  and  destroy  the  disposi- 
tion to  act  in  a different  one.  The  moral  powers,  by 
their  own  exercise,  strengthen  themselves  to  act  in 
the  chosen  direction,  while  they  lose  strength  to  act 
in  the  opposite.  Jesus  spoke  according  to  these  laws — 
He  that  increased  his  talent  by  proper  use,  received  the 
reward  of  ten  pounds.  He  that  paralyzed  his  ability 
to  do  good  by  disuse  or  abuse,  received  the  sentence — 
Take  from  him  his  talent.'"  Whosoever  hath,  to 
him  shall  be  given  ; and  whosoever  hath  not,  even  that 
wMch  he  hath  shall  be  taken  from  him."^" 


* Matt.  XXV.  28,  29. 


GOD  IN  CHRIST. 


247 


THE  NATURAL  ACTION  OF  THE  MIND  CONFIRMS  A WORLDLY  AND 
SELFISH  CHARACTER.  ^ 

The  mind  is  an  ever-active  being  ; and  human  hap- 
piness, as  we  have  shown,  depends  upon  the  right  exer- 
cise of  the  moral  faculties.  But  by  nature  every  man's 
faculties  are  first  exercised  by  the  things  of  the  earth. 
The  objects  of  the  earth  first  attract  our  attention  and 
develop  our  affections.  We  do  not  inquire  here,  why 
men  are  in  their  present  moral  condition.  That 
which  is  born  of  the  fiesh  is  fiesh."  To  the  fact,  so  far 
as  it  is  necessary  in  our  argument,  all  men  will  assent. 
The  affections  and  will  are  first  attached  to,  and  exer- 
cised by,  earthly  objects. 

This  attachment  to  earthly  objects  grows  with  our 
growth  and  strengthens  with  our  strength."  Thus  the 
natural  exercises  of  the  mind  tend  to  confirm  a selfish 
and  unsatisfied  spirit — selfish,  because  earthly  ends  are 
sought  from  supreme  love  to  ourselves  ; and  unsatisfied, 
because  the  aliment  is  not  adapted  to  the  want.  The 
appetite  for  bread  can  not  be  satisfied  with  a stone." 
It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  temporal  good  will  satisfy 
spiritual  wants. 


248 


THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 


THE  PENALTY  INDUCED  BY  SUPREME  ATTACHMENT  TO  EARTHLY 
* OBJECTS. 

Although  the  objects  of  the  world  can  not  satisfy 
those  who  seek  them  as  their  chief  good^  yet  to  separate 
worldly  minds  from  the  objects  of  their  love  renders 
them  miserable.  The  heart  will  ache  and  bleed  when 
it  is  separated  from  the  objects  of  its  supreme  regard  : 
It  is  home  where’er  the  heart  is.”  The  principle  is 
fundamental  and  unfailing — where  the  treasure  is, 
there  will  the  heart  be  also.” 

Now  the  objects  which  are  loved  supremely  on  earth 
can  not  be  transferred  into  a future  state.  When  a 
man  dies,  he  must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  either 
lose  or  gain  happiness  by  the  transition.  If  the  objects 
of  his  supreme  affection  are  on  earth,  he  leaves  them  ; 
if  they  are  in  the  spiritual  world,  he  goes  to  them. 
Those  who  loved  the  objects  of  earth  supremely  will  be 
separated  from  their  idols.  The  transient  and  un- 
satisfying gratification  which  they  afforded  by  self- 
elevation or  sensuous  enjoyment  must  cease.  The 
selfish  spirit  must  enter  the  next  life  with  desolated 
affections,  and  a disposition  confirmed  in  aversion  to 
spiritual  and  holy  things.  The  man  who  fails  of  the 
grace  to  love  Grod  supremely  and  man  impartially,  loses 
his  highest  good  by  violating  the  highest  law.  While 


GOD  IN  CHRIST. 


249 


here^  lie  was  unsatisfied  in  possessing  earthly  good  ; 
and  there  his  soul  is  desolate,  being  separated  from  ob- 
jects which  he  most  desired. 


ANOTHER  ASPECT  OF  THE  PENALTY  CONSEQUENT  UPON 
PERVERTED  AFFECTIONS. 

The  supreme  love  of  earthly  good  not  only  confirms 
the  soul  in  selfishness,  but  it  engenders  and  strength- 
ens evil  passions.  When  earthly  objects  are  supreme 
with  the  mind,  they  are  sought  for  the  sake  of  self* 
Thus  the  whole  action  of  the  life  tends  to  confirm  self- 
ishness in  those  who  seek  their  chief  good  on  earth. 
Self  is  the  motive,  and  self,  in  some  relation,  the  end 
of  their  activity.  But  minds  thus  confirmed  in  selfish- 
ness must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  in  seeking  self- 
elevation or  self-gratification,  come  into  confiict  with 
each  other.  And  whenever  the  selfishness  of  one  being, 
in  pursuit  of  selfish  ends,  hinders  or  defeats  another, 
evil  passions  will  rise  to  agitate  and  curse  the  mind. 
Thus,  by  violating  the  law  of  God,  which  requires  su- 
preme love  for  the  Supreme  Being,  and  equal  love  for 
man,  the  soul  works  out  for  itself  dire  unrest  in  this 
world,  and  secures  for  itself  the  curse  of  a selfish  heart, 
possessed  by  evil  passions  in  the  world  to  come.  To 

love  God  and  man  is  positive  good  in  the  soul;  to  love 

11^ 


self  more  than  these  violates  the  supreme  moral  law, 
and  engenders  hell  in  human  hearts. 


INTERWORKINO  OF  THE  GOSPEL  WITH  THE  LAWS  OF  MIND. 

How,  now,  is  the  Gospel  adapted  to  save  the  soul 
from  its  natural  affections  and  tendencies,  and  induce, 
in  their  stead,  the  elements  of  heaven  ? The  general 
answer  to  this  inquiry  is  obvious  : in  view  of  the  prin- 
ciples before  stated,  the  Gospel  adaptation  would  be 
found  in  such  manifestations  and  methods  of  grace  as 
are  fitted  to  transfer  the  affections  from  earthly  to 
heavenly  objects.  In  this  condition  alone  the  soul  finds 
life.  Is,  then,  the  Gospel  mercy,  in  its  process  and  its 
power,  adapted  to  transfer  supreme  affection  from 
earthly  to  heavenly  objects,  and  to  do  this  in  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  mind  ? 

We  have  already  noticed  the  generative  nature  of 
love,  and  that  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  is  so  manifest- 
ed as  to  produce  in  human  hearts  love  for  the  Law- 
giver. We  have  noticed  that  the  method  of  the  mani- 
festation is  the  one  best  adapted  to  awaken  and  enliven 
all  the  powers  of  the  human  soul.  In  these  particulars, 
the  means  and  the  methods  by  which  they  are  applied 
are  adapted  to  attract  the  affections  from  the  objects 
of  earth,  and  attach  them  to  the  objects  of  heaven. 


G(?D  IN  CHEIST. 


251 


We  desire  here  to  exhibit  the  same  subject  in  other 
viewS;  which  relate  more  particularly  to  the  transition 
of  the  soul  froLi  the  scenes  of  the  present  to  those  of 
the  future  state. 

In  order  that  the  dwellers  in  this  world  may  love  the 
objects  of  the  spiritual  worlds  those  objects  must  be 
manifested  to  us  on  earth.  Man^  as  a mortal^  is  an 
earthly  being.  He  is  localized  on  the  earth.  His  affec- 
tions^ as  we  have  noticed^  naturally  seek  their  objects 
of  attachment  in  the  earth.  We  are  so  constituted  and 
so  located  that  an  object  must  approach  us  in  order 
that  the  susceptibilities  may  be  affected  by  its  excel- 
lency or  its  power.  In  order^  therefore^  that  men  may 
become  attached  to  the  objects  and  principles  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  must  come 
nigh  unto  us.^’ 

How,  these  local  necessities  of  men  are  met  by  the 
revealment  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  person  and 
precepts  of  Christ.  The  King  of  the  heavenly  world, 
the  objects  which  should  be  supremely  loved,  come 
down  to  earth,  and  act  in  connection  with-  the  living 
scenes  and  interests  of  humanity.  Jesus  exhibits  to 
men  the  inferior  character  of  earthly  things,  and  re- 
veals, in  contrast  with  these,  his  own  spiritual  excel- 
lences, and  the  value  of  spiritual  blessings.  The  objects 
of  heaven  live  on  the  earth  in  the  presence  of  men. 


252 


THE  MANIFESTAT-IOH  OF 


The  laws  of  the  kingdom  of  Grod'' — those  which  pre- 
vail beyond  the  grave — the  spirit  of  the  angelic  spheres 
— ^that  which  moves  the  affections  of  all  loyal  subjects 
of  the  Divine  government,  are  here— are  here — with 
men — on  earth — in  time. 

These  objects  being  revealed  on  earth  in  man's  home, 
are  thus  presented  before  the  mind  in  contrast  with 
those  earthly  things  which  seek  our  supreme  regard. 
By  this  method  of  mercy,  the  individual,  whose  affec- 
tions had  been  drawn  to  the  things  of  earth  as  his 
chief  good,  is  met  in  the  same  earthly  circumstances 
by  the  spiritual  objects  which  should  be  supreme  in  his 
soul.  They  are  so  presented  that  the  eye  of  faith  is 
invited  to  perceive  the  glories  of  the  Saviour.  The 
sympathies  of  the  Mediator's  flesh  is  adapted  to  attract 
human  sympathy — the  affinities  are  brought  near  that 
they  may  affect  each  other.  And  then  the  Angers  of 
mercy,  energized  by  Divine  influence,  untwine  the  ten- 
drils of  the  heart  from  their  inordinate  attachment  to 
perishable  objects,  and  the  spiritualized  affections  trem- 
ble toward  Jesus,  as  the  magnetized  needle  trembles  to 
the  pole. 

Thus,  by  the  revealment  on  earth  of  the  objects  of 
heaven,  by  the  human  sympathies  through  which  they 
are  administered,  the  objects  of  heaven  attract  the  af- 
fections of  believers  on  earth.  The  treasure  of  the 


GOD  IN  CHRIST. 


253 


soul  is  then  ni  longer  with  earthly  objects^  but  with 
heavenly  objects.  Thus  the  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
Grod.  The  new  affection  is  now  supreme  in  the  human 
soul.  Earthly  attachments  may  exists  but  they  are 
subordinated  in  the  souhs  estimation  to  those  which  are 
spiritual.  The  pressure  of  selfish  objects  continues 
upon  the  affections  ; but  they  now  become  a tempta- 
tion, which  often  give  the  soul  trial  and  solicitude, 
where  before  they  were  the  supreme  attraction. 

Now  it  must,  we  think,  be  apparent  to  the  reason  of 
every  one,  that  when  such  a mind  leaves  the  earth,  it 
leaves  solicitudes  and  trials  to  find  blessedness  in  ap- 
proaching into  nearer  communion  with  the  objects  of 
its  affections.  Its  treasure,  while  on  earth,  was  in 
heaven;  it  therefore  leaves  the  earth  to  obtain  its 
treasure ; It  is  home  where'er  the  heart  is  the 
sanctified  heart,  even  while  on  earth,  is  with  its  treas- 
ure in  heaven  ; — ^to  die,  therefore,  is  to  go  home  : 

Then  welcome  death ; thy  freezing  kiss 

Emancipates — ^the  rest  is  bhss.” 


JOY  OP  THE  RIGHTEOUS  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  PRINCIPLE 
OF  PROGRESS. 

We  have  noticed  the  considerations  which  teach  that 
the  method  of  Divine  government  includes  the  principle 


254 


THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 


of  moral  progress.  By  faith  in  Christ  progress  in 
moral  good  becomes  an  element  of  happiness  to  the 
soul.  The  soul  rejoices  in  the  advancement  of  interests 
in  which  its  affections  are  engaged.  All  benevolent 
minds  find  their  happiness  increased  by  the  advance- 
ment of  moral  purity  and  moral  principles  on  the 
earth.  The  angels  rejoice  over  one  sinner  that  re- 
penteth."^  The  repentance  of  each  individual  that  re- 
turns to  obedience  is  an  advance  of  good  in  the  moral 
government  of  God.  The  principle  of  progress  secures 
constant  gratification  to  all  who  are  interested  by  faith 
in  the  person  and  plans  of  the  Eedeemer.  Now  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  established  upon  the  earth  among 
men,  and  the  advancement  of  its  interests  engage  the 
sympathy  and  efforts  of  all  who  love  the  Lord.  Thus, 
in  the  present  life,  the  interests  of  the  Christian  heart 
are  linked  with  moral  progress  in  the  government  of 
God.  The  advance,  therefore,  of  moral  interests  in 
the  world  becomes  a spiritual  blessing  to  the  Christian 
mind.  The  principle  of  progress  in  the  government  of 
God  thus  provides  a perpetual  source  of  joy  for  all  who 
love  the  reign  of  Christ. 

The  Scriptures  exhibit  this  truth  directly  and  by 
implication.  They  speak  of  Christians  as  being  in 
sympathy  with  the  progress  of  Christ's  kingdom — they 
represent  the  spirits  of  the  just  as  interested  in  the 


GOD  IN  CHKIST. 


255 


development  of  the  plan  of  salvation  upon  the  earth/^ 
and  angels  as  ministering  spirits  find  their  joy  in  moral 
progress.  The  mysterious  utterances  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse are,  at  least,  intelligible  upon  this  point.  As  the 
Lord  of  lords  goes  forth  by  his  truth,  providence,  and 
spirit,  conquering  and  to  conquer,  at  every  new  con- 
quest achieved  by  truth  and  love,  the  friends  of  the 
Lamb  in  heaven  and  upon  earth  worship  and  utter 
demonstrations  of 'joy  and  triumph.  Their  sympathies 
are  with  the  progress  of  truth,  and  as  the  Gospel 
triumphs  over  error  and  selfishness,  they  are  exhilarated 
and  blessed. 

Now  the  man  whose  soul  is  awakened  and  identified 
in  will  and  sympathy  with  the  Prince  and  the  principle 
of  progress,  is  linked  in  with  a law  that  will  secure  his 
interests  and  produce  joy  in  the  future  life.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  principle  of  progress  prevails  throughout 
the  moral  universe.  It  is  certain  that  it  prevails  in  this 
world,  to  which  human  spirits  belong,  and  in  which 
those  who  love  Christ  become  engaged  in  the  advance 
of  moral  interests.  Hence  in  this  life,  but  more  es- 
pecially in  the  next,  the  knowledge  that  the  power  of 
God  is  exerted  to  advance  moral  good  will  produce 
worship,  and  the  fact  of  advance  will  produce  joy.  As 
the  triumphs  of  moral  power  go  on — as  the  Papacy 

* Luke  ix.  30,  31.  Eevelation,  xxii.  9. 


256 


THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 


rocks  and  struggles  to  its  fall — as  slavery  is  abated  and 
abolished — as  light  penetrates  the  dark  places  of  the 
earth — as  individual  transgressors  repent  and  return  to 
obedience,  the  soul  in  sympathy  with  moral  progress 
will  triumph  in  the  triumphs  of  moral  power — and  the 
spontaneous  utterances  of  the  heart  will  be  Alleluiah  ! 
for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth/' 


Exult,  ye  saints ! — ye  can  not  fail ; 

Tour  destiny  ye  bind 
To  that  supreme,  eternal  law. 
Which  rules  the  march  of  mind. 
As  God  still  lives,  and  as  the  soul 
Is  his  undying  breath, 

, Ye  shall  exult  when  hoary  wrongs 
Are  smitten  unto  death.” 


Thus  the  constitution  of  man^s  moral  nature  harmo- 
nizes with  the  principle  of  progress  in  the  moral  crea- 
tion, and  whosoever  is  restored  to  harmony  with  the 
laws  of  the  moral  universe,  finds  here  and  hereafter  in 
the  principle  of  moral  progression  a source  of  unfailing 
interest  and  joy. 

THE  INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL  LIFE. EXPOSITION  OF  THE 

PRINCIPLE. 

The  connection  between  the  present  and  future  state 
is  constituted  not  only  in  harmony  with  the  laws  of  the 
affections,  as  we  have  seen,  but  likewise  in  harmony 


GOD  IN  CHEIST. 


25T 


witli  the  laws  of  the  intelligence.  The  impressions 
made  upon  our  senses  by  outward  objects,  and  the 
thoughts  which  are  originated  by  these,  are  the  fur- 
niture of  the  mind  and  the  treasure  of  the  memory. 
The  spirit  lives  in  itself  by  digestion,  or  by  reflection 
upon  first  thought,  furnished  by  sensation.  Then,  by 
a law  of  the  mind,  reflection  brings  the  object  that  flrst 
awakened  the  perception  into  the  presence  of  the  soul. 
By  faith  spiritual  objects  make  an  impression  upon  the 
internal  life,  as  outward  objects  do  upon  the  senses. 
What  the  objects  and  action  of  temporal  phenomena 
are  to  the  sensuous  man,  spiritual  objects  recognized 
by  faith  are  to  the  spiritual  man.  If  a man  be  shut  up 
in  a prison  whose  mind  lives  upon  the  objects , of  the 
external  world,  when  the  prison-door  is  closed  he  is 
separated  from  his  chief  good  ; the  consequence  is,  a 
bereaved  and  unhappy  mind.  He  must  then  live  by 
reflection.  If  he  deserve  his  doom,  reflection  will 
make  him  unhappy.  And  if  he  does  not  deserve  it, 
reflection  will  still  make  him  unhappy,  because  his  soul 
will  feed  on  his  own  sin  or  the  sins  of  others.  But  if 
the  chief  love  of  the  soul  be  spiritual,  then  by  reflection 
the  object  of  love  will  be  present  in  the  soul,  and  the 
presence  of  a chief  love  always  produces  happiness. 
Those  who  love  Christ  can  not  be  imprisoned  for 
known  crime,  and  if  they  suffer  wrongfully  they  can 


258  THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 

rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad/^  because  in  men  tual 
they  have  the  promise,  and  are  conscious  of  the  pres- 
ence and  favor  of  the  chiefest  object  of  their  affection. 
The  love  of  their  soul  is  spiritual,  not  local  and  tem- 
poral. Bolts  and  chains  can  not  exclude  spiritual 
objects,’^  faith  makes  them  a present  entity  to  the 
mind. 

In  furnishing  the  mind  for  immortality,  then,  those 
objects  which  are  spiritual  should  be  treasured  as  the 
chief  good  of  the  soul.  The  time  is  coming  when 
every  mind  must  live  by  reflection.  Then,  the  aliment 
upon  which  it  lives  will  be  either  temporal  or  spiritual 
things,  according  as  it  has  chosen  its  chief  good.  If 
Christ  be  enthroned  in  the  affections,  reflection  upon 
his  life  of  merciful  labor,  his  self-sacriflce  made  in  love, 
his  lordship  in  providence,  and  by  his  Spirit,  as  he  rules 
and  furthers  the  moral  progress  of  the  universe — these 
will  furnish,  in  the  immortal  state,  perpetual  aliment 
for  the  affections,  and  perpetual  exercise  for  the  intelli- 
gence, in  analytic  and  synthetic  combinations  of  the 
great  facts  in  the  scheme  of  mercy  developed  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  which  Christ  is  the  Mediator  and  the  Ad- 
ministrator. 


* Acts,  xvi.  25 : “ And  at  midnight  Paul  and  Silas  prayed  and  sang 
praises.”  See  also  Hisiaries  of  the  Persecuted  in  all  Ages. 


GOD  IN  CHRIST. 


259 


THE  CONNECTION  OF  THE  PRESENT  AND  FUTIHE  STATE,  AS  CONSTI- 
TUTED BY  THE  LAW  OF  SUGGESTION. 

The  law  of  suggestion,  or  association  of  ideas,  is  a 
governing  law  of  the  intelligence.  Without  it  there  is 
no  conscious  identity,  no  logical  memory,  no  ratiocina- 
tion. There  can  he  no  such  thing  as  a sane  mind  de- 
void of  this  law.  The  law  of  cause  and  effect  rules  as 
really  in  the  mental  as  it  does  in  the  external  phenom- 
enal world.  So  long  as  consciousness  and  memory  last, 
the  law  of  suggestion  will  rule  the  intelligence,  and  an 
experience  in  the  soul  of  the  effects  of  past  acts  of  life 
will  bind  the  mind  to  a consideration  of  the  cause 
which  produced  those  effects. 

Now  we  have  shown  that  a soul  whose  chief  treasure 
is  on  earth  will  feel  a sense  of  evil  and  deprivation 
when  removed  from  the  things  of  sense.  This  mental 
woe  must  suggest  the  cause  which  produced  it — the 
acts  of  a selfish  and  sinful  life.  The  consequences  of 
sins  felt  in  the  soul  will  suggest  the  sins  which  caused 
the  evil  effects  which  the  soul  experiences.  Thus  the 
mind  will  be  doomed,  by  its  own  laws,  to  live  in  the 
presence  of  its  own  sin.  God^s  laws  are  self-executed. 
The  circle  of  unhallowed  suggestion  is  formed  by  the 
^ voluntary  sins  of  life.  The  circle  is  closed  by  natural 
death.  In  this  world  the  consequence  of  sin  is  often 


260 


THE  MANIFESTATION  OF 


separated  from  its  cause  by  tbe  interposition  of  sensu- 
ous objects^  and  by  tbe  arrangements  of  a probationary 
condition.  In  tbe  world  of  reflection,  and  by  tbe  laws 
of  reflection,  sin  and  its  consequences  are  united.  Tbe 
sins  of  life,  by  conflrming  earthly  affections  and  evil 
habits,  unite  in  a product  of  spiritual  evil  in  tbe  soul. 

But  on  the  other  band,  when  the  bonds  of  sense  are 
broken,  and  tbe  believer  enters  tbe  spiritual  world,  he 
comes  nearer  to  spiritual  objects,  which  are  his  chief 
good ; his  joy  must  thereby  be  increased.  The  con- 
sciousness of  joy  (and  it  may  be,  the  more  sensible  im- 
pressions from  the  objects  of  his  affections)  will  suggest 
the  cause  of  the  spiritual  blessing  that  refreshes  his 
mind.  That  cause  is  Christ  The  laws  of  the  mental 
nature  unite  Christ  and  glory  in  the  sanctified  spirit. 
Thus  the  circle  of  hallowed  suggestion  will  be  closed. 
Christ  rules  the  soul  by  law,  which  makes  him  ever- 
present with  his  people ; and,  therefore,  while  law 
binds  the  unsanctifled  spirit  to  its  sins,  as  to  a body  of 
death,  it  binds  the  believing  mind  to  Christ  forever. 

The  sting  of  death  is  sin  ; and  the  strength  of  sin  is 
the  law  : but  thanks  be  to  Grod  who  giveth  us  the  vic- 
tory, through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.^^  Amen  and  Amen. 

Thus  have  we  endeavored  to  exhibit  the  evidence  ^ 
of  the  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  of  Grod  ; in  the 


GOD  IN  CHRIST. 


261 


first  place,  from  considerations  independent  of  written 
Eevelation  ; and,  in  the  second  place,  from  the  Eevela- 
tion  of  the  Lord  Jesus ; and  from  the  whole  to  point 
out  the  inferences  most  necessary  and  useful  to  man- 
Mnd.^^ 

We  think  we  have  proved  that  the  God  of  Nature  is 
the  God  of  Grace— that  the  Supreme  good  in  God  is 
the  author  of  Christianity,  and  the  supreme  good  in 
man  its  end. 


ADDENDUM. 


EXCUESES  OX  HYPOTHESES  * ESPECIALLY  THE  HYPOTH- 
ESIS OF  PEE-EXISTEXCE.  ^ 

Ax  hypothesis  which  has  no  basis  in  phenomena,  nor 
any  in  experience,  is  a mere  speculation  which  may 
awaken  interest  by  the  ingenuity  of  its  argument,  or 
by  the  skill  with  which  the  writer  selects  and  uses  ma- 
terial in  constructing  his  scheme.  Such  labor,  how- 
ever, can  be  of  but  little  value  in  the  realm  of  substan- 
tial thought.  Some  hypotheses,  as  mere  figments  of 
the  fancy,  may  amuse — some,  marked  by  the  character- 
istics of  an  inquiring  mind,  may  elicit  thought  upon  an 
important  subject,  while  some  may  be  suggestive,  and 
indicate  to  other  minds  trains  of  ideas  which  lead  in 
the  end  to  the  acquisition  of  real  knowledge. 

The  hypothesis  of  creation  by  law,  which  we  have 
had  occasion  frequently  to  notice  in  the  previous  pages, 
attempts  to  save  itself  from  reproach,  by  giving  all  the 
veracity  which  the  author  can  procure,  to  the  facts  upon 
which  his  reasonings  are  predicated.  This  is  wise, 


ADDENDUM.  , 


263 


because  if  the  foundation  be  not  trustworthy,  the  su- 
perstructure can  not  be. 

There  are  some  hypotheses  based  wholly  upon  con- 
jecture, and  hence  their  authors  do  not  have  any 
trouble  either  with  objective  facts  or  subjective  experi- 
ence. A recent  work,  under  the  momentous  title  of 
the  Conflict  of  Ages ! by  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  a gen- 
tleman of  learning  and  piety,  is  a good  example  of  that 
kind  of  hypothesis  which  is  founded  in  the  conjectures 
of  an  inquiring  mind,  and  elaborated  to  fill  the  signifi- 
cance of  its  title. 

If  we  could  suppose  Dr.  Beecher  to  have  fallen  into  the 
vein  of  Swift,  we  would  be  sure  that  the  design  of  his 
book  was  to  awaken  the  conviction  that  some  of  the  older 
theologies  were  conceived  in  the  shadow  of  a darker  age, 
and  can  not  be  maintained  in  their  prima  facie  inter- 
pretation, without  offense  to  enlightened  Christians  of 
the  present  day.  If  this  be  the  intention  of  the  book, 
it  will  aid  in  accomplishing  an  end  ; whether  a bene- 
ficial one  or  not,  it  is  not  our  business  here  to  determine. 

There  should  be  some  word  in  our  language  which 
would  stand  for  those  mere  creations  of  the  fancy, 
which  are  often  called  hypotheses,  but  which  are  predi- 
cated entirely  upon  conjectures.  If  we  were  to  venture 
an  addition  to  our  already  teeming  vocabulary,  we 
would  suggest  the  composite  word  pseudo-thesis^  as  a 


264 


ADDENDUM. 


proper  one  to  designate  this  kind  of  writing.  As  in 
such  cases  it  is  not  necessary  (or  rather,  it  is  not  expe- 
dient) to  spend  any  time  either  with  the  facts  of  nature 
or  of  revelation,  a tolerably  active  imagination  might 
frame  a pseudo-thesis  which  would  appeal  to  the  reason 
with  as  much  plausibility  as  that  of  the  excellent 
author  of  the  Conflict  of  Ages.^^ 

Let  us  look  at  the  conflict  from  another  stand-point 
— ascertain  the  difficulty  to  he  solved,  and  try  the  force 
of  our  new  deflnition. 

We  will  assume  a doctrine  taught  in  the  Bible,  and 
one  which  is  historically  verified  in  the  case  of  the 
Jews.  Children  do  suffer  for  the  sins  of  their  parents. 
God  is  the  creator  and  moral  ruler  of  his  creatures. 
Man  is  the  creature  of  his  power,  and  the  subject  of  his 
providence.  Then,  if  every  man  comes  into  the  world 
a depraved  moral  being,  and  comes  into  the  world  at 
such  times  and  in  such  circumstances  as  the  Creator 
elects,  how  are  the  acts  of  the  Creator  in  punishing 
children  for  the  sins  of  their  parents  to  be  reconciled 
with  the  principles  of  honor  and  right.'' 

Here  we  postulate  our  pseudo-thesis  in  relation  to  the 

Conflict  of  all  Ages."  We  assume  that  men  are 
created  in  races.  Then  each  spirit  that  is  created  lives 
on  upon  the  earth  in  successive  bodies  till  the  end  of 
the  race.  When  one  body  dies  the  spirit  is  transmitted 


ADDENDUM. 


265 


nto  anotheij  and  so  consecutively  for  ages.  Thus  the 
J ews,  as  their  Eahbis^  or  Doctors  of  Divinity  taught, 
were  all  created  at  the  same  time,  and  while  they  often 
change  bodies,  the  spirits  of  the  race  continue  upon  the 
earth,  the  same  in  number  and  person.  An  opinion 
similar  to  this  had  not  only  the  suffrage  of  very  vener- 
able and  learned  men  among  the  ancients,  but  it  is 
countenanced,  likewise,  by  great  names  of  modern 
times.  Among  these  we  might  mention  Herder^  of 
W eimar. 

Now  we  shall  endeavor  to  maintain  this  view  of  the 
subject,  and  by  it  vindicate  the  Divine  government  from 
the  charges  of  dishonor  and  wrong. 

The  Jews  in  the  days  of  the  Messiah  committed 
their  fearful  sin.  A curse  came  upon  them  and  their 
descendants,  and  followed  them  seventeen  hundred 
years.  Now  how  shall  we  reconcile  the  principles  of 
honor  and  right,^^  with  the  penal  providences  of  God, 
and  the  facts  of  history,  unless  we  suppose  that  the 
same  spirits  that  committed  the  sin,  suffered  also  the 
penalty  ? The  reason  reluctates — ^the  conscience  repels 
the  idea  that  a Jew  of  the  middle  ages  suffered  for  the 
sins  of  others  who  lived  ten  centuries  before,  and  with 
whose  acts  the  sufferer  had  no  more  connection  than  he 
had  with  the  sin  of  Adam  ? 

It  may  be  answered  that  one  generation  approves  of 
12 


266 


ADDENDtJM. 


all  the  acts  of  preceding  generations  of  the  same  race, 
and  therefore  succeeding  generations  are  guilty,  in  a 
good  sense,  for  the  crimes  of  those  who  preceded  them. 
But  this  is  not  a true  averment ; because  the  Jews  have 
not  for  many  centuries  believed  that  their  fathers  were 
actuated  by  the  motives  ascribed  to  them.  But  fur- 
thermore, allowing  this  to  be  true,  the  race-feeling  is 
not  of  their  own  begetting.  They  did  not  choose  to  be 
born  after  the  fact,  nor  to  be  born  Jews.  They  had  no 
agency  in  this  matter,  hence  the  principles  of  honor 
and  right'^  are  still  unsatisfied.  If  the  reader  of  this 
page  had  been  born  a J ew,  he  would  have  had  the  same 
race-feeling  which  affects  them.  Who  then  shall  recon- 
cile with  the  principles  of  honor  and  right,^^  the  fact 
that  the  Jews  of  the  middle  ages  suffered  for  the  acts 
of  their  race  a thousand  years  before  ? It  can  be 
done,  as  we  have  already  said,  by  assuming  the  con- 
tinued life  of  the  soul  in  a series  of  bodies  during  the 
whole  existence  of  a race. 

In  behalf  of  this  view  of  the  subject,  take  the  fol- 
lowing facts  and  reasonings  : 

{a)  The  race-feeling  continues  the  same  ; the  mental 
and  moral  peculiarities,  and  prejudices,  and  proclivities, 
continue  the  same  from  generation  to  generation. 
This  proves  one  of  two  things,  either  that  the  parents 
transmit  their  moral  qualities  to  the  child^  or  that  a 


ADDENDUM. 


267 


spirit  possessing  the  same  peculiarities  lives  in  the  new 
embodiment.  Both  of  these  may  be  true^  because  the 
moral  peculiarities  of  the  father  are  the  same  with 
others  of  his  race. 

(&)  The  physiognomy  of  the  race  in  all  ages  has 
been  the  same.  The  seed  produces  the  tree,  and  not 
the  tree  the  seed,  in  all  cases  after  the  first : so  the  soul 
moulds  the  body.  Each  spirit  assimilates  matter,  and 
produces  the  conformation  and  development  of  its  own 
corporiety,  in  accordance  with  its  own  nature.  Now, 
the  phrenological,  physiognomical,  and  physiological  con- 
formation of  the  Hebrews  has  been  the  same  in  all 
ages.  This  fact,  in  its  scientific  analysis,  strikingly 
confirms  the  opinion  that  the  same  race  of  spirits  de- 
velops the  successive  Jewish  generations  from  age  to 
age. 

(c)  Our  scheme  has  likewise  a more  certain  founda- 
tion in  the  Scriptures  than  any  other  view  of  The 
Conflict  of  Ages."^  In  Luke,  chap.  xi.  51,  it  is  written  : 
From  the  blood  of  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias, 
which  perished  between  the  altar  and  the  temple, 
verily  I say  unto  you,  it  shall  be  required  of  this  gen- 
eration."^ Now,  it  is  well  known  that  the  Jews  recog- 
nize Abel  as  one  of  the  progenitors  of  their  race.  And 
as  Nott  and  Gliddon''  have  intimated  that  Adam  (or 
an  Adam)  was  father  of  the  Jews,  we  have  therefore 


268 


ADDENDUM. 


their  authority  on  this  point  (and,  as  courtesy  and  mocZ- 
esty  are  always  characteristics  of  profound  and  trust- 
worthy thinkers,  the  authority  of  these  philosophers 
should  be  weighed). 

Now,  as  doctors  of  divinity  among  the  Jews  held  the 
opinion  that  the  spirits  of  the  Jews  were  the  same  in 
all  generations,  is  not  this  passage  in  Matthew,  which 
speaks  according  to  the  usus  loquendi  of  the  times,  a 
distinct  authorization  of  our  views  ? 

We  may,  then,  affirm  our  ^se^^c^o-thesis  to  be  a true 
^^j9othesis,  predicated,  not  only  on  a scientific,  but  a 
scriptural  basis  ; hence  we  infer  that  the  retribution 
which  fell  upon  the  Jews,  for  many  ages,  was  the 
desert  of  their  moral  transgressions,  committed  in 
pre-existing  bodies. 

{d)  But  the  historico-moral  argument  for  this 
scheme  of  vindicating  honor  and  right  in  Divine 
Providence,  has  a force  even  more  conclusive  than 
some  of  the  considerations  before  mentioned. 

It  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  religion,  which  is  abund- 
antly supported  by  profane  history,  that  nations  do 
suffer  in  this  world  the  consequences  of  their  national 
sins.  But  those  who  suffer  the  penalty  are  generally 
separated  many  generations  from  those  who  perpetrat- 
ed the  evil  for  which  the  nation  is  punished.  Now  we 
submit  the  question  to  Dr.  Beecher  and  the  many  re- 


ADDENDUM. 


269 


spectable  theologians  of  his  school^  how  are  the  princi- 
ples of  honor  and  right  to  he  vindicated  if  the  penalty 
does  not  fall  upon  the  criminals^  hut  upon  those  who 
did  not  sin  with  them^  nor  fall  with  them^  in  the  acts 
which  corrupted  the  nation,  and  brought  the  penalty 
due  to  preceding  generations  upon  the  last  one  ? The 
men  have  been  dead  a thousand  years  who  perpetrated 
the  first  transgression,  and  it  was  their  example  and 
infiuence  which  encouraged  the  sins  of  their  successors  ; 
unless,  therefore,  this  last  generation  are  personally 
guilty  for  the  sins  of  the  first  generations,  who  induced 
the  penalty,  how  can  Dr.  B.  or  any  body  else,  vindi- 
cate Providence  upon  the  principles  of  honor  .and 
right  But  if  the  last  generations  were  personally 
interested  in  the  first  transgressions — if  they  lived  in 
their  progenitors,  and  sinned  with  them  in  all  their 
offenses,  then  they  deserve  to  suffer  personally  the  pen- 
alty for  all  the  past.  Thus,  by  our  jpse^^cZo-thesis,  the 
principles  of  honor  and  right  in  Providence  are  vindi- 
cated, and  the  Oonfiict  of  Ages"^  adjusted,  forever — 
or,  if  not  forever^  we  think  we  have « said  enough  to 
secure  an  armistice,  at  least,  during  the  present  cen- 
tury. 

But  whether  the  grand  conflict  be  issued  or  not, 
arguments  do  not  fail  us  in  support  of  our  proposi- 
tion : 


270 


ADDENDUM. 


It  is  a principle  of  revelation^  supported  also  by  the 
spirit  of  human  legislation  in  all  ages,  that  sin  should 
be  repaid  in  kind : Whatsoever  measure  ye  meet 

shall  be  meeted  unto  you'' — He  that  taketh  the 
sword  shall  fall  by  the  sword."  Now,  providential 
judgments  upon  races  are  often  strikingly  in  accord- 
ance with  this  principle.  As  an  instance,  take  the 
case  of  the  Spaniards,  under  Cortez  and  his  compirates. 
They  slew  with  the  sword  the  ancient  Mexicans,  con- 
quered a peace,"  and  appropriated  their  lands  and 
wealth.  The  posterity  of  the  conquerors  established 
themselves  in  the  country.  Centuries  pass  ; the  con- 
querors still  reign  over  their  conquered  possessions. 
But  now  God  raises  up  another  race  against  those 
ancient  aggressors,  and  they  suffer  (i.  e.,  the  old 
Spaniards  in,  new  bodies  suffer)  the  same  penalty 
which  they  had  inflicted  upon  the  Mexicans.  They 
fall  by  the  sword  ; and  their  territory  is  wrested  from 
them  upon  the  same  principles  which  governed  them 
when  they  wrested  the  same  soil  from  the  Aztecs. 

Thus  the  principles  of  honor  and  right  are  vindicated 
by  our  Jp5e^^(io-thesis  in  another  form.  We  hope  the 
author  of  the  Conflict"  will  himself  accept  this  view, 
as  it  is  not  predicated  in  conjecture,  but  upon  facts 
drawn  from  history,  science,  and  Scripture. 

We  concede  that  one  of  the  same  objections  may  be 


ADDENDUM. 


271 


alleged  against  our  view  of  the  Oonflict^^  which  meets 
the  scheme  of  Dr.  B.  As  man  has  no  consciousness 
of  having  sinned  in  a preceding  world,  or  in  a preced- 
ing body,  and  as  it  is  the  effort  of  the  author  of  the 
Conflict'^  to  reconcile  the  principles  of  honor  and 
right,  as  assorted  hy  conscience  and  reason^  with  the 
divine  proceeding,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  reconcil- 
iation is  to  be  effected,  while  the  penalty  is  inflicted 
where  no  consciousness  of  demerit  exists. 

But,  in  answer  to  this  objection,  our  scheme  has  at 
least  one  hypothesis  on  its  side.  The  author  of  the 
Vestiges  of  the  History  of  Oreatioff"  has,  as  he  sup- 
poses, shown  that  the  whole  series  of  species  which 
comprise  the  creation  are  one — that  man  is  the  comple- 
ment of  all ; or,  at  least,  that  he  is  the  head  of  the 
series.  Now,  as  man  has  only  in  this  age,  by  the  aid 
of  this  author,  reached  the  knowledge  that  he  existed 
in  past  ages  in  the  form  of  a shark,  and  thence  up- 
ward to  a baboon,  and  finally  to  a man,  this  conclusion, 
reached  by  this  hypothesis,  is  against  Dr.  B.'s  theory, 
but  not  against  ours.  If  man  came  up  from  the  gloha’~ 
tor  volvoXj  through  an  evolving  series  of  advancing 
species,  then  it  is  evident  he  did  not  sin  as  man  in  an- 
other state  of  existence.  If  men  sinned  at  all  in  a 
former  state  of  existence,  it  must  have  been  as  reptilia, 
or  some  other  order  of  the  lower  carnivora. 


272 


ADDENDUM. 


Now,  as  the  jievelopment  theory  has  more  facts  of  a 
certain  sort  to  support  it  than  the  pre-existence  theory, 
we  hold  it  to  be  proved  that  our  existence  as  sharks  in 
a former  state  is  more  probable  than  our  pre-existence 
as  sinners,/,  e.  d. 

In  conclusion,  may  we  be  permitted  to  offer  a serious 
suggestion  to  the  writers  of  our  day,^^  who  are  anxious 
to  vindicate  the  Divine  character  from  all  complicity 
with  the  origin  of  evil.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  good 
men  should  lose  time  and  labor  on  such  questions  ; but 
this  they  will  do,  while  they  admit  into  the  discussion 
definitions  and  dogmata  which  are  untrue  both  to 
science  and  revelation.  If  imperfection  and  evil  are  the 
same  thing,  having  various  relations,  then  all  that  is 
necessary  to  vindicate  the  Divine  character  is  to  reveal 
the  Divine  plan,  and  show  the  perfect  end  to  which  the 
creation  is  advancing.  The  origin  of  physical  and 
moral  evil  (if  we  must  assume  such  evils  to  exist)  con- 
sists in  those  imperfections  which  exist  in  a process 
before  it  has  reached  maturity.  To  those  whose  minds 
can  apprehend  the  perfect,  there  will  appear  evils  in 
the  present  state  of  things.  Man  was  made  to  per 
ceive  the  future  perfect,  and  to  struggle  for  its  attain- 

* We  do  no  more  than  justice  to  this  class  of  writers  when  we  say, 
that  in  it  are  often  found  good  and  able  minds. 


ADDENDUM. 


273 


ment.  To  Mm  a sense  of  evil  is  goodj  because  it  is 
necessary  in  the  nature  of  things  to  stimulate  to  moral 
advancement^  and  in  beings  where  there  is  no  sense  of 
evil,  the  evil  exists  only  as  imperfection  belongs  to  a 
process  which  has  not  reached  maturity. 


■S ' 

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iM 


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11 


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13 


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14 


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15 


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Translated  from  the  French  of  L.  F.  Bungener,  Paris.  Introduction  by  the 
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the  Bev.  David  King^LL.  D.  Octavo,  cloth  arabesque,  1.75 ; sheep,  2.00. 

The  condensation  of  the  quotations  of  Scripture,  arranged  under  the  most  obvious  heads,  "while 
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We  have  in  this  edition  of  Cruden  the  best  made  better."—  Puritan  Recorder. 

E ADIEUS  ANALYTICAL  CONCOBLANCE  OF  TME  HOLT 
SCBIP TUBES  ; or,  the  Bible  presented  under  Distinct  and  Classified 
Heads  or  Topics.  By  John  Eadie,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Author  of  “ Biblical  Cyclo- 
paedia,” “ Ecclesiastical  Cyclopaedia,”  “ Dictionary  of  the  Bible,”  etc.  One  vol- 
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The  object  of  this  Concordance  is  to  present  the  Scriptures  entire,  under  certain  classified 
and  exhaustive  heads.  It  differs  from  an  ordinary  Concordance,  in  that  its  arrangement  depends 
not  on  WORDS,  but  on  subjects,  and  the  verses  are  printed  in  full. 

HIT  TO  ^S  POFULAB  CYCLOBJEHIA  OF  BIBLICAL  LITE  BA- 
TUBE,  Condensed  from  the  larger  work.  By  the  Author,  John  Kitto, 
D.  D.  Assisted  by  James  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Glasgow.  With  over  five  hun- 
dred Illustrations.  One  volume,  octavo,  812  pp.,  cloth,  4.00  j sheep,  5.00  ; half 
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A Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  Serving  also  as  a Commentary,  embodying  the  products  of 
the  best  and  most  recent  researches  in  biblical  literature  in  which  the  scholars  of  Europe  and 
America  have  been  engaged. 

KITTO^S  HIS  TOBY  OF  PALESTINE,  from  the  Patriarchal  Age  to  the 
Present  Time;  with  Chapters  on  the  Geography  and  Natural  History  of  the 
Country,  the  Customs  and  Institutions  of  the  Hebrews.  By  John  Kitto, 
D.  D.  With  upwards  of  two  hundred  Illustrations.  12mo,  cloth,  1.75. 

03“  A work  admirably  adapted  to  the  Family,  the  Sabbath  School,  and  the  week-day  School  Li- 
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PELS. With  Historical  and  Explanatory  Notp:s.  By  Brooke  Foss 
Westcott,  M.  a.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  With  an  Intro- 
duction by  Prof.  H.  B.  Hackett,  D.  D.  Royal  12mo,  cloth,  2.00. 

A masterly  work  by  a master  mind. 

ELLICOTT’S  LIFE  OF  CHBIST  HISTOBICALLY  CONSIH- 
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Explanatory.  By  C.  J.  Ellicott,  B.  D.  Royal  12mo,  cloth,  1.75. 

Admirable  in  spirit,  and  profound  in  argument. 

^AWLINSON^S  HISTOBICAL  EVIBENCES  OF  THE  TBUTH 
OF  THE  SCBIPTUBE  BE  COBBS,  STATEB  ANEW,  with  Special 
reference  to  the  Doubts  and  Discoveries  of  Modern  Times.  In  Eight  Lectures, 
delivered  in  the  Oxford  University  pulpit,  at  the  Bampton  Lecture  for  1859.  By 
Geo.  Rawlinson,  M.  A,,  Editor  of  the  Histories  of  Herodotus.  With  the  Co- 
pious Notes  translated  for  the  American  edition  by  an  accomplished  scholar, 
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18 


